Recently on display for the Associates show at Kingston Gallery SOWA, Boston. MA, August 2023.
On Drawing Trees
While most of the burned drawings I do constitute portraits, I draw trees, am attracted to individual trees, because of their relationship to their surroundings; to power lines, the road, water, buildings, a parking lot or of course, other trees. This may not always be evident as I zoom in and try to focus on a specific tree's character, its situation, its condition.
An old friend of mine told me that he likes the way I do tangled. A dancer, I explained to him that it's just that, the dance, the choreography of what has taken place, that I pursue. The trees I notice are participants in a slow drama, affected by humans, the weather, climate change and perhaps having been planted in a place where their likelihood of survival is greatly lessened compared to their native environment, or a cleaner, healthier place.
I've said it before in different ways, but you won't see me at a nursery or even a botanical garden, looking for a perfect specimen. Lined up like pageant contestants, coifed and trimmed, they look beautiful but unreal to me. Some day when they come into their own I may stumble on them- full of vines or birds nests, tangled up with another planting. Then I'll take a few pictures, find the story, and begin to draw.
While most of the burned drawings I do constitute portraits, I draw trees, am attracted to individual trees, because of their relationship to their surroundings; to power lines, the road, water, buildings, a parking lot or of course, other trees. This may not always be evident as I zoom in and try to focus on a specific tree's character, its situation, its condition.
An old friend of mine told me that he likes the way I do tangled. A dancer, I explained to him that it's just that, the dance, the choreography of what has taken place, that I pursue. The trees I notice are participants in a slow drama, affected by humans, the weather, climate change and perhaps having been planted in a place where their likelihood of survival is greatly lessened compared to their native environment, or a cleaner, healthier place.
I've said it before in different ways, but you won't see me at a nursery or even a botanical garden, looking for a perfect specimen. Lined up like pageant contestants, coifed and trimmed, they look beautiful but unreal to me. Some day when they come into their own I may stumble on them- full of vines or birds nests, tangled up with another planting. Then I'll take a few pictures, find the story, and begin to draw.