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This painting is based
on the oldest tree in the world.
It is found in California and is
4700 years old. The
tree is aptly called
Methuselah.The biblical
Methuselah was the grandfather
of Noah and together with Noah
acted as a messenger to the
world of the impending flood,
much as the current day
Methuselah announces the
presence of global warming.
The bristle cone pine is a
twisted and gnarly tree that
grows in difficult
climates. Its age is
determined through taking a core
sample from it and
examining the rings under a
microscope. The science is known
as Dendrochronology which means
tree time, hence the name of the
painting. The rings reveal
changes in climate, rain,
drought, volcanic activity and
frost. When I painted this, I
wanted something that would
represent the role of this tree
in witnessing, recording and
revealing the history of our
earth. I decided to paint tree
rings behind it, emphasizing the
linearity of both the tree and
the rings.
Read more about the story told
by these ancient trees here.
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SEPARATION
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When I did this
painting, I was thinking about
deforestation, but also the
concept of presence and
absence. We had just had one
of our trees diagnosed with
Dutch Elm disease and I found
myself viewing it with a new
fondness as I knew we would
have to take it down. Now I
feel its presence deeply when
I look at the space it once
occupied. I have found that
with people I often feel their
presence deeply when they are
gone. The same may be said of
trees. I also was intrigued
with what I have learned about
how trees often function in
community and wanted to show
the entanglement of community
in the overlapping branches
that is also lost.
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SALT
FOREST
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I had done
the painting Ghost Trees and
had originally called it
Ghost Forest. That seemed
like something that might
actually exist so I did a
search. I learned that the
name is often applied to
forests that are adjacent to
ocean. As the oceans rise,
they surround the trees and
the salt water kills them.
They poke up through the
water in various states of
decay, often turning white.
This painting is based on
actual ghost forests that
are markers of our history.
They increase as global
warming occurs and waters
rise. You can read more
about ghost forests here.
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GHOST
TREES
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Every painting leads to
another. This painting grew
out of Separation. I liked
the idea and the image, but
felt it needed more
contrast. As I was thinking
of the tree trunks as
ghost-like, I decided to
paint them white. This
enhanced the sense of
presence despite their
absence. It is only as an
afterthought that we notice
the stumps beneath them.
This
painting was originally
titled Ghost Forest. I
changed it to Ghost Trees as
I learned that "ghost
forest" is a real term, not
just one of my invention.
The actual ghost forests are
created when salt water
along the coast rises and
surrounds the forest,
killing the trees and often
turning them white.
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CROW
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This
collage was based on a photo I
took at sunrise of what I
believe to be a crow. The sun
reflected off his feathers
giving him a golden glow. I
learned that with global
warming, mosquitoes will be one
of the creatures that will
thrive. Mosquitoes spread an
illness that crows are
especially susceptible to so
threaten the existence of the
crow. You can read more about
this threat here.
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THE
FLOOD
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This was my first painting in
this series. I was thinking
about deforestation and the
resulting floods that
occur. I chopped down a
few trees to stumps and let
the waters flow around them.
The stumps appear to dance in
the water. The canvas that I
used had several paintings on
it previously as I often build
on prior efforts. One of
the residues that I kept was a
rich yellow sky that echoed
work I had seen from much
earlier periods.
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SKEETERS
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This
painting is a companion
piece to Crow. In the age
of global warming,
mosquitoes will thrive.
They spread a disease to
which crows are especially
vulnerable. Thus they play
an out-sized role in
threatening the existence
of our crow population.
You can read more about
this threat here.
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GHOST
TREE
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This
collage uses an image of a
tree juxtaposed with water
to reflect the stump that
remains of a tree overtaken
by the sea, a portion of a
ghost forest.
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WATER
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When I walk with
friends I frequently take
pictures that end up in
collages. In the lower right you
can see leaves that were
reflected in water. The water is
found in the upper left corner
and texture unites the two
images.
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FIREFLIES
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Fireflies
are another creature that are
threatened by our destruction
of habitat. For many of us,
they bring back childhood
memories when they were far
more prevalent than they are
today. That tree in the
foreground is my ill-fated elm
that fell to Dutch Elm
disease. Perhaps this image is
a meditation on what once was.
Read more about the impacts of
global warming on fireflies here.
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HONEYCOMB
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If you look
closely in the upper right you
will see a bee against
honeycomb. The existence of bees
is also threatened by
environmental change. To lose
them means we lose their
important role as pollinators
which creates a cascade of
impacts. Read more about the
threat of global warming to bees
here
and here.
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MESSENGER
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This
collage is composed of tree
rings. It became a meditation
on the idea of recording and
sending a message. It is
through these tree rings that
we know the history of global
warming. As I worked with the
images, I flashed on familiar
objects from an earlier time,
a traditional telephone and a
record on a record player.
Both were communication
devices, designed to pass a
message on to a larger
world.
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