The Platanus Solution

Size:          51”h x 49”w x 6”d

Material:   Arizona walnut segments set on a fiberglass, wood and canvas shell.  Rounded segments of                           Sycamore are used in center design.  Solid Sycamore pieces used for base and at top around                       opening.

Finish:  Sanded smooth and oil finish rubbed into wood.  Paste wax applied to all surfaces.

Sycamore trees growing in Tucson, Arizona but I got my wood for this piece in Wenatchee, Washington. The trees are adaptable to various climates and are members of the Plane Tree Family, sometimes refereed to as button-wood.  Their scientific name, Platanus, is the rational behind the name of this art piece.  I have planted Sycamore in my early home landscaping but it proved to be such a dirty tree I have given up on using it in subsequent home landscaping.  It is deciduous and has large leaves and many of them that come down in the fall. It produces seed balls the size of a golf ball that dangle all over the tree on 2-4 inch stems until they also fall.  The bark continually peals off as the tree ages.

When I worked at Wenatchee Valley College, we built a nice home high on the hillside with a great view up the Columbia River.  The only problem was that the neighbor across the street below us had a huge Sycamore tree that blocked that fabulous view from our living room.  JoAnn and I joked about slipping down under cover of darkness and sprinkling salt around the base of the trunk or acquiring the nails used to kill trees when driven into the trunk.  We would never do that but it was fun to scheme about ways to cause the demise of that Sycamore.  Besides, the tree's owner was my boss, the president of the college.

We had been gone for a few days and upon our return we were shocked to see the tree missing with only large sections of the trunk laying on our neighbor's lawn.  He told us he was tired of cleaning up after it and it didn't appear to be in the best of health.  He was only too glad to get rid of all I wish to take.  Isn't it amazing how things work out.  We got our view back and also a nice supply of Sycamore wood.  We are still good friends and visit whenever we can get together.  I don't believe we ever confessed our scheming to do his tree in.

*More detail can be found on my art at my website <www.apatchablue.com>