Today was quite the day of running around... and, sorry to say, that no large leaps in research were made today. I met with a very nice woman today named Ginny (same name as my practically sister/ neighbor growing up) who is interested in the project. She met me up at the studio and we talked mostly about the project, but a lot about my background and my impetus to create a pink dandelion.

I have a slew of reasons, mind you, why I am after such a ridiculous, yet arduous task. I wrote this out a while ago:

Dandelions functions as lighthearted intermediary. Normally dandelions are passed off, discarded, and treated as pests although they have really great qualities. As with many things, their presence is devalued. To make a pink dandelion would make the overlooked extraordinary. The creation of a pink dandelion is a very elegant and romantic image, however at the same time in its creation observing some sense of absurdity.

I chose to make a dandelion pink because, in my mind, it was the most romantic and the most poetic option. Also after researching dandelions after I initially came up with the idea, I found that there are many "close calls" but not an exact pink dandelion and this made the concept so much more desirable to me. There is the wildflower Crepis (commonly known as Pink Hawksbeard) which looks very similar to a dandelion but it is not at all the same flower. Crepis rubra, this flowers' pink version, has the appearance of a pink dandelion. Also, Taraxacum pseudoroseum (the yellow dandelion is called Taraxacum officinale), is close to a pink dandelion, but not quite there yet. It is pink on the outside and yellow in the middle.

Today I, also, met with a good friend who I have not seen since May. It was good to hear a fresh voice and opinion about the project. He asked me if I had been writing about the dandelions. I told him that I was but that it was easier for me to write out an answer to a question than it was for me just sit down and write about how I feel about them... maybe, though, the blog on some level functions as that forum for me.

I see art making as a means of understanding like I see research as a means of understanding. I see them both as one in the same. Art making brings to light those things that we cannot comprehend, and maybe to some extent, I would argue, cannot fully grasp. And research is a means of figuring out the "why" in the world. Art making is a means of research and a way to figure things out and similarly research can be a means of art making and a way to figure things out.

In any case, this performance, art making, research, figuring out how to make a pink dandelion... it has about two more weeks. I am still of the mindset, as naive as it sounds, that if one believes that they can do something then they will be able to do it. And, perhaps, maybe it's not just the end result (the pink dandelion) or just the act of making (figuring out and researching how to make a pink dandelion). Perhaps there's more to the questions that come up when reading the blog, or the suggestions that I get when I talk to someone on the street, or the looks that I get when I'm picking the last flowering dandelions of the season, or the basic question that I hear ten times a day (but not to worry, it never gets old), "How are the dandelions coming?"

Don't worry... they are doing just great!