I’ve worked the past two weeks on a painting for the Family Trees show on March 3rd.  This canvas is about the size of a card table, a 34″ square.  I got it while I was still in Portland and tried to do a collaborative work with the residents of Bridge Meadows, but in the move, it got scratched and slight mutilated.  When I tried to scrape and sand the paint off all the paint, I poked a small hole in it.  So I did the first layers in a collage of papers from my journals, newspapers, and gift papers.

I wanted to do a painting of the trees during the different seasons and had thought for a long time about how to do the roots.  I blotted bronze paint over the pink hearts in the center, then began to paint the trunks and roots.

So much has been discovered recently about how trees communicate.  And how people communicate for that matter, once this central image was in place, the painting sort of designed itself.

It took a lot of layering to get the colors and the seasons done, but by the end of it, I was pleased.  I didn’t strive for realism, but for more an homage to our roots and the seasons we weather.

And in the center, a little planet earth.

The details don’t show up as well in these photos as I’d like, but you can see it live on March 3 at Crosstown Arts, 430 N. Cleveland, from 4:00 til 8.

What do you think?

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