Yes, they can! At least Tim Knowles thinks so: he attaches pens to the ends of branches and lets them doodle in the wind, like botanical spirographs.
![i-ce63279cbe4eee9c64de9e1145e70ef9-Oakdrawing[detail]72.jpg](http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/wp-content/blogs.dir/263/files/2012/04/i-ce63279cbe4eee9c64de9e1145e70ef9-Oakdrawing[detail]72.jpg)
Knowles says, "Like signatures each drawing reveals the different qualities and characteristics of each tree." It sounds cheesy, but it's true - the drawings really are distinct, and do capture something of the fluidity of a tree in the breeze.
Knowles' body of work is all about distinctive vectors and paths: he also did a series of "Vehicle Motion Drawings", and his "Postal Project" traces, seismograph-like, the movements of a package in the mail. In his Nightwalks series, "The Artist walks away from the camera [mounted on a tripod, shutter open] carrying 3 very powerful torches fitted with diffusers, the lights are connected to a 12volt battery in a backpack to prolong their life. As he walks the torches illuminate the route, drawing in the landscape. The walks follow paths, ridgeways or compass bearings, some for over an hour." The results are stunning:
Oh yeah- and he's also the photographer behind my most recent Mystery Image. Tim Knowles' collected data is beautiful because of, and in spite of, the random input of chance: he's the quintessential sciartist.
Top: Ivy on Easel, Borrowdale, Cumbria, 2005. Bottom: Oak on Easel #1, Stonethwaite Beck, Smithymire Island, Borrowdale, Cumbria, 2005; Nightwalk - Knole Park, Sevenoaks #1, 2008. See more at Knowles' website, and at this archived exhibition at Rokeby gallery.
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To answer the titular question: No.
No, they can, it is just based on the unpredicatble motions of the wind and the plant's own movements, not actual thought. Quite intresting really, I've always been intrested in this type of creation.
I just got some stunning photos from a friend who recently hiked high on a coastal range near Santa Cruz. The wildflowers flow and burst and dapple on the vast canvas of the hills... quite like a gorgeous painting. :-)
Ha! Those are fantastic.
I wonder if he'd consider attempting the mechanics of a long-term painting created by a climbing vine's coiling motion? The paint would have to be refreshed, or suitable for long durations, but it'd be neat to see how a vine paints after it grips and pulls on the weight of a brush.
I wouldn't say it's the plant that's doing the drawing.
The artist used the plant coupled with the wind as tools to make the drawing.
Cute title though :)
Aw, the vines with their easels are so . . . adorable.