"BEAUTIFUL tree!"

Ficus Trees continued: When doing a shift, walking the streets to check on the ficus trees, I felt compelled to take a photo of this magnificent tree on 2nd Street. A passerby commented with a heartfelt "BEAUTIFUL tree!", and looked totally astounded when I said "yes, and they want to cut it down".

This tree is marked by a cross for destruction- reminding one how,in medieval times in London, houses struck with the plague were marked with crosses. Relevantly, the City initially used the word "diseased" to describe trees they wanted to cut down. They had to retract on this and change it to "decayed". And in spite of their independent Arborist declaring that only three trees are possibly decayed beyond treatment, this evening on Channel 4 News, Kate Verney- the City Manager's Assistant- claimed that "23 of the trees are structurally unsound"!

Yesterday, I had to watch a contractor- doing electrical work for the Cities' "beautification" scheme- grinning cheerfully as he hacked through the roots of a neighboring tree, not designated for destruction. However he was not happy when I took a photograph and immediately took one of me and screened off the area to block my view. There are strict guidelines on how work around trees should be carried out- they are not been adhered to.

Phone Tree

Well, it has finally happened, I have turned into a tree: a Phone Tree!

A lot has been happening regarding our precious Santa Monica Ficus trees, which is why I have neglected this site.

A week ago, Treesavers lost the case in Court in spite of our Attorney- Tom Nitti- battling brilliantly for us- and our leader Jerry Rubin wearing long pants for the first time since his wedding day! It was more than frustrating as the whole case was based on the interpretation of legal minutiae- the Judge in her summing up saying another Judge might have given a different Judgment. It was all dependent upon the City being able to prove they had given the community sufficient warning about their streetscape plans in 1995 and 2005 and the fact that we should have appealed THEN rather than in 2007 when they first made their plans clear. We need to all become
lawyers.

The result of losing the case was that the trees are now very vulnerable- there is nothing to stop the City destroying them. Because of this we are all on alert so that we can put up some sort of tree defense. As it is highly likely that the contracted company will act either during the night or early morning, we are keeping a 24/7 watch on 2nd and 4th Streets. Should a red alert happen, the Phone Tree will go into action to get all Treesavers round the trees. This is why I have turned into a Tree- a tree spending long hours trying to set up a phone system.

This afternoon we had a Peaceful Sit-In at City Hall- in an attempt to set up a dialogue between us and the City. It was good to see a lot of High School kids supporting us- they, at least, have more sense and understanding of the environment than some of our Councilmembers. Mayor Pro Tempore, Richard Bloom, passing through the Lobby, agreed to answer some of our questions. But he made it absolutely clear that he had NO intention of changing his mind and listening to the people who had voted for him. Democracy???

Jerry wears the pants

and Richard Bloom listens to his people...

Arcadia 4:

And finally some Magnolia flowers which brightened a grey, drizzly day- though the second photo is of a Japanese Apricot tree (I'm afraid I always prefer the more visual colloquial names to the Latin ones):

Arcadia 3:

And now for some pretty patterns....

Arcadia 2:

And here are more visuals from the Arboretum- although the final photo is taken in Descanso Gardens in La Canada where we went subsequently, in search of Beaver-suitable-Birches:





Descanso Gardens

Arcadia 1:

Yesterday, it was good to see some special trees, after witnessing the City Council's anti-tree, un-democratic, dictator-like behavior.

I took the opportunity of going to the Arboretum in Arcadia- one of my favorite places- tagging on to a "scouting" search for a grove of Birch Trees suitable for a Beaver, to be used for a Commercial. The birches there were NOT suitable but I had a wonderful, happy time seeing and photographing lots of beautiful and extraordinary trees- many being old friends of mine.

As a follow-up of my "Roots" post of February 7th, I will start by showing two photos of roots. Having thought others were like animals' feet, it was interesting to see some named "Elephant Foot Trees". The other two trees shown here are Silk Floss Trees. They are one of my VERY favorite trees and will have to have their own post soon:






Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Ficus Trees' Appeal:

February 19th was not a good day for Santa Monica's Ficus trees: Treesavers appealed to the City Council for the Landmarks Commission's ruling to be overturned (see post Ficus Trees not Landmarked, January 22nd)- this was denied. We had an even stronger Landmarking case, having discovered a second "historical personage" involved with Jacqueline Girion's tree-planting: the first Woman Mayor of Santa Monica, Clo Hoover, another early female environmental activist. Again, our PowerPoint presentation proved the trees fulfilled four of the Landmarks' Designation Criteria. The City Council, however, have other agendas.

Ignoring public opinion- as clearly demonstrated by the great turn-out of Treesavers- Councilmember Kevin McKeowen's (our sole City Council supporter) motion to reconsider the tree portion of the streetscape scheme was outrightly rejected.

The next step is a Court Injunction Hearing on February 28th: the trees cannot be cut down before that.

I have mentioned previously that I was especially upset about the proposed culling of the Ficus trees because I had been constructing a sculptural lightbox based on one (I call it by its colloquial name: Green Gem)- well, here it is in Court on the PowerPoint presentation, backing up the fact that the trees have "artistic interest"!

Patterns of Palm Trees:

Walking home the other evening, the sunlight was just catching my local, delicate, spindly palm trees....

Maharishi and a Tree:

Since his death on February 5th 2008, Maharishi, of Transcendental Meditation, has been much on my mind. He has had a big effect on my life in that his Meditation technique has largely contributed to my happiness and to my sanity throughout the difficult moments of my life.

I started his meditation in its early days in the UK, largely because I felt it would contribute to my state of mind as a painter. At that time the majority of meditators were middle-aged and elderly “weirdo’s”- I was one of the rare young ones.

Courses then were small and intimate. This was before the Bangor Course, attended by The Beatles and Mick Jagger (and me!), which made Meditation OK in the UK. I went to one in rural West Wales: during the Course Maharishi spoke of his wish to have TM (as it was called) represented at an Exhibition in Canada. A small group of us connected with the Arts and Media were invited to come up to London to discuss this with him.

He wanted Artists to depict the variety of people who meditated. Being very serious and channel-visioned, I argued that I could not do this as my paintings at the time were abstract and if I did a realistic painting it would not be a good one and would be recognized as such. However, when we said our farewells he appealed to me: “You will paint me a picture won’t you?”- what else could I answer but “yes”.

With no intention of following this up, I returned to Malvern, where I was living. I embarked on a painting of my original Conker tree (see January Post “My Conker Trees”); like Cezanne with his Mont St. Victoire, I painted it endlessly.
This time I painted a very diagrammatical painting of it: a very large painting with delicate, meticulous blue lines on a white background- finally, when exhibited, entitled “Blue Lines Surrounded by Orange”- the orange referring to the return edges.

It was only after the painting was completed that I realized that what I had painted was a diagram that, throughout the Course, Maharishi had drawn to show us the process of Transcending.

I had painted Maharishi’s painting- and it was a Tree.

Roots:

Roots…. roots fascinate us all- children and adults. As a child I found it exciting seeing the slightly scary roots of blown-down trees in forests in Aberdeenshire which gave one an insight into the tree as a whole.

At the moment I am thinking a lot about roots in relation to myself and my relationship with Santa Monica. Previously, I felt that I was floating on the surface but- since working for Treesavers- I now feel that I have put down PHYSICAL roots here. It is a very visual feeling-not just metaphorical.

When I lived in London I used to periodically have a desperate need to “earth” myself by walking in a field and literally getting mud on my shoes; there is something similar between this and my “rooting”.

As for the actual roots of trees- just as there is infinite variety in the trees themselves, so there is in what we see on the surface; some trees just appear to be perched on the ground whereas others give a melodramatic display of tangled roots. They all engross one; they are all weird in some way.

Starting with some of the show-off surface ones: