Portrait

Most of what I’ve been attracted to recently has been close-up looks, vignettes that document the lives of trees. These are the record, the history of the tree and often depict broken places or decaying spots. Yet sometimes I want to celebrate the larger whole.

I can’t for the life of me understand how this incredible beech tree ended up growing in the way that it has grown. There are three major trunks and lots of tangents from them. And what I’ve not yet figured out how to capture is the horizontal sweep of the limbs, which extend out upward of 15 or more feet. Such a powerful life force.

While most of my work recently has focused on close-up abstractions of trees, there’s something to be gained by looking at the larger picture. As in life…