Growing up in Colorado, I am reminded every day of the majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the reason I, and many other people, live here. Nature is a continuum of life and death, growth and decay; but the past few years have seen an unprecedented decline of the pine forests. The little bug the size of a grain of rice that ravages these trees is not new, but the depth and breadth of its appetite is. Wide swaths of forest turn from green to orange in a matter of months as one wonders what may lie ahead.
Is this nature’s way of regeneration?
Is a catastrophic fire inevitable?
What will this habitat look like in 10 years? 50 years?
Is there anything to be done?
These paintings draw from this sense of concern and records the organic forms and the detritus that is left over. Sick trees exhibit a ghostly blue stain that meanders through the growth rings – a stamp or death certificate for that tree. There is also a natural beauty in the stains and the crosscut forms of the trees. I am interested in the formal aesthetics of this environment. The trees had been pillars of strength, offering shelter and a diverse habitat – that has now changed.
