New experiments with an old pine friend

I decided not to make acquaintance with new pines this year, because the project Pondering with Pines ended officially at the end of last year, but of course I’m working with the material and showing work in exhibitions. And now I’ve also made some new experiments with the Pine of the Year (2024) in Kaivopuisto Park, with the small exhibition “More Pines” in mind, one week in the Telegraph Gallery on Harakka Island 12 to 17 August 2025.

First I tried a kind of ‘frottage’ technique to capture the shield bark in some manner, with ink on papers placed around the trunk horizontally.

Not very happy with the result I decided to make a new experiment with the paper vertically, and with the ink diluted with water.

This second attempt looked clearly better, but the ink was almost too diluted, I realised when it dried. The pine was very calm and seemed supportive, at least that is what I like to think. I tried to be quick and cause minimum harm with the short pins only attached to the surface of the bark shields, so hopefully no pain. And as an ending an image of the pine restored: