Trees

“Without trees, we wouldn’t be here,” Colin Tudge says in The Tree.

I love the idea that what goes out of a tree goes into me, and what goes out of me helps a tree live. And trees, unlike humans in our culture, become more reveared the older and larger they get. Each new ring (or wrinkle) brings more admiration. Imagine shopping for a new tree and the salesman saying that you could buy this old, tall, fat one, or pay more for a lithe, young , little sapling!

Trees are so forgiving. We hack off their limbs, carve our initials in their skin, or cut them down completely to celebrate a holiday or heat our houses. We plant new ones and they grow and thrive, despite our arrogance. In them is the hope for our future.

In New England, how do you consider a landscape, without considering trees. They are so much a part of our visual perception of life, that most of the time we don’t notice them. I don’t say to a friend, “Turn right by the big maple.” Instead I say, “Turn right by the white house.”

Trees have been a backdrop for me in my paintings for years. But this year I have been really looking at trees, singly and collectively, and realizing what a precious resource I have to work with. As I play with the shapes and colors, and manipulate their original beauty, I find myself so grateful for their presence.

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