Trees
Before this series of trees, I created several paintings with wooden frames. Near the bottom of each frame was a shelf for small objects, which provided a space for human interaction. The painting Replanting below is an example from this period.
The borders in my recent oil paintings evolved from this idea and provide a reminder that these tree images have been taken from nature and placed in a human context. They also help to give each tree image a space of its own.
Borders work in many different ways, providing material for ongoing experimentation. Sometimes a tree's shapes and colors push out into the border, other times the border forms a boundary, like an edge, frame, or window.
These paintings are portraits of individual oaks, apples, madrones, redwoods, buckeyes, and pines living in California. They grow in wild areas with the exception of the apples from orchards in the Watsonville area. Many of these orchards have been cut recently to make way for raspberry fields.
The painting Watsonville Apples won first place in painting and the best-of-show award at the 77th Annual Statewide Landscape Exhibit at the Santa Cruz Art League.
I am fascinated by the structure and natural geometry of trees, and take care to preserve their shapes and gestures.
Click on any painting for a larger view and more information. |
