TREES

My tree series comes from my love of the forests where I live in here in Marin County. The particular single oak tree in the series is a beautiful old oak that lives down the hill from my home in the San Geronimo Valley. The collage and metallic patterns mimic the complex textures and layers of the forests and the changing nature of the reflective metallic paints express how the trees and forests change with the shifting light throughout the day and seasons. 

I use bits of poetry in the collage layers and pieces of Richard Powers‘ book, The Overstory, which is a sort of love letter to trees. It was the one book I managed to have the attention span to read during the first year of the pandemic. I grew up in a maple forest in Northeastern Pennsylvania and am deeply in love with trees. They’ve been my companions, my solace, my jungle gyms, my muses. I was taken with his lush and layered language and deep knowledge. His words and my daily walks in the woods grew into my tree series.

When the painting is complete, I usually find a small bit of text poking through that poetically encapsulates the feeling and becomes the title of the piece.