In Kauffman’s painting, Autumn Trees, yellow and orange branches blow in the wind, arcing in obeyance to the earth’s raw power. The two trees seem related to each other. Perhaps they are older and younger sisters. It appears that the large tree shields the shorter one from tempestuous gusts. In between the two, an intriguing […]
The art process can lead an artist into unexpected byways. An innocent contemplation of harvesting autumn fruit took me in a surprising direction. The end of summer means ripening fruit on the trees and expanding squashes, like pumpkins, on the vines. As they reach maturity, I become excited. Harvesting yellow and orange squashes, red apples,
Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York and online at www.walterwickisergallery.com Trees spend their lives in one place. And yet, in a tree’s solitary existence, enormous experiences occur. Weather bakes it or floods it. Insects invade. Sap rises and falls. Chemical messages from other plants flow through the air and underground. The tree grows or becomes ill.
The Blowing Tree from the exhibit Gallery Artists XXI Read More »
A large orange, purple and green tree spreads beyond the picture frame. We see the yellow and green roots below. Lines extend downward from the roots deeper into the soil, as if seeking nutrition. These lines illustrate the miraculous energy exchange between the rich nurturing dirt and the living tree. The straight lines at the
Root Energy Rain: an ink drawing Read More »
Blue Tree is an ink drawing that I created in 2023. It consists of hundreds of tiny ink lines that show a broad expanse of a blooming tree. Inspired by a huge walnut tree at the Seattle house (where I grew up), I depicted a shallow root system. Although the black walnut reaches a majestic
Blue Tree-Shallow and Valiant Read More »
I recently listened to a woman’s speech about having lived in a Stone Age indigenous community doing volunteer work for many years. She adapted herself to their lifestyle. In her descriptions, she casually mentioned that the village would gather together each week “at the Meeting Tree.” This sounded like a natural assumption that a large
The Meeting Tree: an ink drawing Read More »
Using ink and acrylic, I drew a meditating figure floating atop a void. The darkened ovoid space below the figure reminded me of an apple-shape. I grew up in Seattle and we had several apple trees on our land, perfect places of refuge. On many a spring, summer and autumn day, I climbed a tree
Clouds Low is an ink drawing that depicts people meditating in nature. The left figure sits among boulders. She consists of multiple layers: the white outline, an off-white area inside the outline and an inner space with tightly drawn ink lines. When I meditate, I feel an outer level, symbolized by the outline, that is
In my studio, while working on my ink drawings series, Land and Water Meditations, I spontaneously drew a large tree that I titled Planted. With hundreds of ink lines, I created the vitality and energy of thousands of leaves in this enormous tree that extended to the top and side borders of the picture. The
I grew up in Seattle with omnipresent rain and abundant trees. In early spring, pink blossoms covered fruit trees. The east side of my family’s one-acre plot featured a cherry orchard, with a few plum, pear and apple trees growing wild in the back. Blossoms heralded the advent of caterpillar season. We used no pesticides,
