Sunday, October 26, 2008

I'm failing you all! (or my rock garden plans)


Well I tried modeling an earlier sketch and it looked terrible. The entire thing lacked inspiration and plus, "Hook" was on TBS, followed by "A Knight's Tale." Show me anything that competes with that lineup and I'll show you a liar. Yep.

So maybe all the basketball playing numbs the creative mind. I did randomly feel inspired to plan to make rock garden art though. Hey this is a topic!

China and Japan have rock gardeners. The Chinese variety create "gongshi," or "scholar stones." They'll find some great, large stone or coral and carve holes, curves, or edges into it. At this point, I imagine the stone looks beat up and silly, hardly polished or worth showing off. Then the gardener will take this carved stone to a river or beach and submerge it. Sleepin' with the fishes!

The rock will get a nice rub down from the passing water. The gardener will wait ten, fifteen, twenty, or however many years until this rock has been rubbed just right. Then he'll (or she'll) put it into a garden and I bet it'll look great. Very zen no?

I go back to Hawaii this winter break and da' family owns a Kaneohe beach house with a pier that'd be perfect for rock gardening. Looking forward to it! Amazing to think of undertaking a project that will comprise a significant fraction of my life. I've never really cultivated something for that long... have you?

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