Volume 2. Chapter 4. Inner necessity

Seed

Formation and articulation is inherent in each seed. A seed is individuation compressed into a point. A seed is the energetic talisman of a species.

Germination

A artwork, like a seed, has an inherent idea. When an idea begins to develop, its line is given direction and reason. The seedling draws energy from the soil, then reaches up for the light.

Seedling

A seed produces a radicle, its root, a hypocotyl, its stem, and zero or more cotyledons, its baby leaves. From there a seedling begins to grow leaves and to branch. A seed begins as a point when your pen touches paper, but in your hand this point becomes a line, and the line branches to claim space, but without the seed it cannot thrive. The seed is inner necessity.

Draw an apple

An apple is not merely a shape; it has a structure in space. When you draw it, you should feel the seeds in it. Cut the apple from stem to calyx to see how its parts are connected. Cut it across the middle to reveal the star shape of its core. An apple blossom has five petals and an apple’s core has five chambers. A living thing drags its past into its present.

Becoming a living thing

Beginning with singularity we arrive at plurality. Beginning with the linear we arrive at the planar. At some point, articulation of the line becomes articulation of a thing as a whole.