Sundays Are For Foraging
“There’s treasure everywhere!” Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes
Lately, my interests have been pulling me in too many different directions. I have found myself significantly more interested in nature. I am struggling to combine some of the hobbies that I have started to love: gardening, the natural world and raising animals with what I have always loved: animation. I could not see a way to make these individual paths meet together somewhere effectively.
This makes me ask myself if I’m spreading myself too thin? The answer is yes, I am. It’s always yes. I am always taking on more than I should.
For a variety of reasons (that I am not going to get into here) I have been thinking of my mortality a lot lately. At the end of my life, I want to be someone that has tackled more than I should have in the time I have had to live. I want to do the work and exploration of several lifetimes in just one. This really hit a tipping point with the unexpected death of my dad in July, 2019.
All of my films are semi-autobiographical. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a film about my relationship with my dad. I also knew that I needed some time to process my grief and that, eventually, the right idea would come to me. In January, I finally had that idea after years of waiting for it. This led to writing a poem about our relationship titled “Sundays” because I saw my dad every Sunday growing up.
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My love of art and nature is a direct result of my dad’s parenting and encouragement. I came home from Dad’s every Sunday covered in paint and mud, with scraped knees and a new adventure in the books.
This poem quickly married the dual interests I have been struggling with! I will create a 2D animation on handmade paper. Each frame (drawing) of animation will use natural inks created with materials foraged in nature or grown in my garden.
And really, this was the perfect posthumous gift from my dad. He was my go-to when something was really bothering me. He always had a good answer or could help me find the path to arrive on that answer on my own. Having this idea solved so many struggles that I am having within myself and it gives me a way forward. Somehow, he is still capable of calming me down four years after his death.
This led to a hike with my husband this past Sunday to find some ink materials. I didn’t plan on it having to be a Sunday for any real symbolic effect - it just worked out that way with our schedules!
Sometimes, Sundays are for foraging!
