TREE
TIME
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This painting is based
on one of the oldest trees 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 climate change.
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. I think an awareness
of different time scales, tree
time vs human time,
reminds us that we bear a
responsibility to the world that
extends beyond our lifespan.The
tree 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 with each other and
with other plants and animals.
In the overlapping branches,
I wanted to show the
entanglement of community that
is also lost. You can read
more about the community
formed by trees here.
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SALT
FOREST
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I had
initially named an earlier
painting Ghost Forest. That
seemed like something that
might actually exist so I
did a search and learned
that the name is often
applied to forests that are
adjacent to oceans. As the
oceans rise due to global
warming, they surround the
trees and the salt water
kills them, turning them
into arboreal ghost towns.
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 the history
of our land. I thought of
these white trees as pillars
of salt, hence the name. You
can read more about ghost
forests here.
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| GHOST
TREES |
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Every painting leads from
and 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.
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CROW
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This
collage was based on a photo I
took at sunrise at the Grand
Canyon.The sun reflected off the
crow's 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 climate
change. 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. My artwork is
very much a free association.
It reminded me of Native
American iconography. so I
added a tail to these
arrow-like forms, as they
arced around our world
carrying their message.
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AN INTERRELATED WORLD
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While
you can view each of these
images separately, when I had
finished a grouping, I began to
assemble them. What struck me
was how interrelated they were.
The messenger of climate change
as represented by the tree,
provides its warning that in
turn affects the many creatures
that populate our earth.What
affects the mosquito affects the
crow with a series of cascading
effects. The idea that what
affects one affects all seemed
especially relevant at a time
when we were facing a pandemic.
We live in a global world and
cannot live in isolation.
Similarly our earth by its very
nature is global and each part
of it is part of an interrelated
tapestry. We need to understand
the totality, the parts and most
importantly, the
interrelationships.
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THE SENTINELS
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While
staying at home during COVID-19,
we began to walk regularly in
lieu of going to the gym. I was
surprised at the beauty I found
in our neighborhood walks and
began to find guideposts along
the way to mark the progress of
my walk. This one in particular
spoke to me and I took countless
pictures of it. The tree to the
left appeared to have a fungal
growth on it which reminded me
of a necklace. It was its
imperfections that drew me to
it. Part of it had been cut off
while next to it, another tree
curved into fluid forms. If the
light is just right, the bark of
the tree behind it glows, but
often my eye was just drawn to
the dark space between these two
sentinels. I first observed it
in spring and noted it on every
walk after. One day six months
later, I approached it.but my
eyes sought its form in vain.
Where had it gone? As I drew
closer I saw a tree stump where
the necklaced tree had once
stood. I was surprised to feel
grief at its loss.
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| SUNSET WALK |
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Our
walks each evening often allow
us to appreciate the sunset.
This is one of my favorite
images of the sky framing a tree
just up the street from our
home. It is a gift to see the
world through fresh eyes,
something that has been awakened
in me during Covid-19. Walking
has an element of meditation to
it, a repetitive act, but
spiraling into a deeper
appreciation of the environment
which surrounds us.
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THE SURVIVOR
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On
our nightly walks, this burly
tree was one which fascinated
me. Covered with rounded, swirly
growths, it looked like it had
fallen upon hard times, but
survived wearing its scars with
pride. I learned that these are
burls, a wart-like deformed
growth that can be caused by
injury or infection. The cells
divide and grow in excess and
unevenly similar to cancer
cells. Ironically they add great
beauty when used in woodworking.
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Our
frequent walks often take us
through areas with ponds and
lakes. I was intrigued by the
circles that formed on the water
as it iced over, but
especially by the skies which
seemed so dominant in the stark
landscape.
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