As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m collecting rainwater in a bucket to use for my painting and, to stop the wind blowing the bucket away, I’ve placed a brick in it. Well, this weekend, I was surprised to find a snail living in the brick.
Unsure of how the snail would’ve got there, I was intrigued enough to Google (other search engines are available) whether snails could swim and was surprised to find that indeed they could.
This then created in my mind the scenario that the snail not only slid over to the bucket but up the side, down again, swam across to the brick, and then climbed up it – which seemed quite the adventure!
More simply, perhaps it’d been picked up by a bird and fortuitously been dropped onto the brick?
Or perhaps it’d been a baby snail too small for me to notice when I placed the brick in the bucket and now grown much larger?
As you can tell, I’ve become quite fascinated by what this snail’s story may be. But, unlike Dr Dolittle, I can’t talk to the animals to find out. It will forever be a mystery.
However, this chance discovery illustrates that my art practice is part of the ecology. Of course, it’s not just my art practice: it’s all of me. Being more atune to this is crucial if I’m to understand how I can better affect what I am part of.
