Weeds Identified in a Week, front side
October 3, 2018 6:49 am
In this special edition of Awkward Botanical Sketches, I took some inspiration from a book called Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec. In this book, two friends separated by an ocean chose something about their lives to collect data on every week for a year, then they exchanged the data they collected via weekly postcards. They did this by drawing out a representation of their data on the front of the postcard, along with a key to the drawing on the back. It seemed like a fun thing to do, so I decided to try it. Rather than mailing my postcards to someone across the sea, I am sharing them here.
My ability to creatively present the data I collected pales in comparison to Lupi and Posavec, but I had fun giving it a shot. Most importantly, it satisfied my quest to draw more. This first postcard is all about the weeds I came across in a week.
Weeds Identified in a Week, front side
Weeds Identified in a Week, back side
Whenever I listen to music I make a mental note of any botanical references made in the lyrics. I generally don’t do anything with these mental notes – unless, of course, I’m writing something about them (see this Botany in Popular Culture post, for example) – but this time I did. Saturday was a particularly busy day because I was listening to a lot of Ghost Mice.
Botanical References in Songs, front side
Botanical References in Songs, back side
My obvious obssesion with weeds and my intention to write a weeds-themed book someday – plus my career as a horticulturist – means that I frequently find myself involved in activities and conversations involving weeds. I wasn’t exactly sure how to track that, so this is my lousy attempt at doing so. In case you’re wondering what I was up to on Saturday (the big, blue circle), this tweet and Instagram post should help explain things.
Weeds in Conversations and Activities, front side
Weeds in Conversations and Activities, back side
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Posted by awkwardbotany
Categories: Botany, Reviews and Recommendations
Tags: art, botanical art, botanical illustrations, botanical sketches, botany in popular culture, data collection, Dear Data, leaves, pen pals, postcards, sketches, STEAM, weeds
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Fun project! I’ll have to check out that book
By brittanyburgard on October 3, 2018 at 10:56 am
This is really clever! It was fun to read this post.
By Audrey Taylor on October 3, 2018 at 4:17 pm
Thanks! It was a fun project. 🙂
By awkwardbotany on October 4, 2018 at 1:24 pm
That second postcard reminds me of an Aztec codex. Very cool. Have you heard Absolute Lithops Effect by the Mountain Goats?
By David Domanski-Miville on October 10, 2018 at 9:56 pm
🙂 If I have, it’s been a while. I’ll have to give it another listen.
By awkwardbotany on October 11, 2018 at 3:30 pm
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