Extensions of Environment

Many people ask about the characteristics of rocks in different locations I’ve visited.  No matter what, rock balancing is almost always an extension of the natural landscape.  Since it is purely an art form that flourishes in the moment, stone balance almost always includes indigenous materials of the immediate landscape.  based on where one is on Earth, these environments can have similarities and/or have a great deal of variance as far as ambient moods, rock types, temperature, sound, wind, anything and everything…

Here are a series of photos labelled with locations to demonstrate how rock varieties and landscapes can vary so much from one another.. Most of the rocks in my balances and photos are from Boulder Creek in Boulder, Colorado, USA..  Other places in the world that I’ve visited and balanced are Costa Rica, Italy and Canada. Each place had unique rock varieties..

CANADA

Ottawa, Canada was a lot of limestone; uniform color, angular shapes, sharp edges. And large spiders loved hiding underneath the rocks. Uvita, Costa Rica had similar rocks to Boulder Creek but with less red tones and slightly more eroded edges.. most of the rocks were NOT on the beach.. more near streams. Italy had more eroded rocks along the coast from the salt water.  However, 2 different cities in close vicinity along the Adriatic coast had completely different rocks from one another.. One place (Portonovo, Italy) had more rounded and powdery rocks with lighter colors. The other place (Cattolica, Italy) had very unusual rock shapes with bubble-like forms. These rocks were much harder, and therefore more forgiving to balance. They also consisted mainly of an orange color in the stone, which beautifully contrasted the blue sky.

ITALY

I really love the rocks in Boulder Creek. All the places were enchanting in their own way, but Boulder Creek holds a special place in my heart.. the rocks are incredibly diverse, both in color and shape.  Lots of Granite, lots of sandstone and vivid earthy colors.   Woods quarry on the other, is a short hike out of Boulder, no water, and all blocky, angular sandstone pieces.  Here, since color is homogenous, and shapes angular, different forms were possible compared to the creek… Creating the orb structures largely depended on the characteristics of the blocky sandstone.  many of the rock faces were parallel so it was easier to dry stack with great stability.  An orb of this size and shape would be nearly impossible to make in any of the other places… Woods Quarry had an abundance of the right size and shapes of rock to really build any structure I could imagine.

COLORADO, USA

         

Ambience

Each environment has a unique ambience about it as well.  As any balancer knows, environmental ambience plays a significant role in the flow of creating stone balance…  Sounds, air, colors and general feeling of the site is very influential, not to mention the characters of rocks themselves.  Boulder Creek has a steady rush of water that the mind becomes subconsciously aware of..  Same with the stream in Costa Rica pictured above.  The sites and sounds also fluctuate based on season… the lush green ambience of boulder creek in the height of summer is different from the muted, baren creek in the winter months.. different circumstances = different possibility.

In Italy, working along the coast, the baseline sound that is absorbed by the subconscious is more wavelike as the waves rhythmically crash on the shore.  Although subtle, the difference can subconsciously frame the rest of the experience….

Ottawa also has a more steady flow sound but much more subtle and muted because the river is so vast.. Something interesting to experience in the places outside boulder creek, was the tides… Portonovo, Italy and Costa Rica had very defined tidal schedules… Boulder creek can shift slightly within a day period but the change is usually negligible.  Boulder creek experiences rises and retreats in water level more on an annual schedule as opposed to the coastal daily shedule.. Creek flow is drastically higher every year around May and June.  Another example of how different parts of the year will change how the balances extend from the environment.. :)