A series of acrylic paintings created to celebrate the big trees in California.
Old Silver Stump, The Lost Giant
Acrylic on canvas, 20″ x 16″ x 0.8″, 2024
This painting deals with the loss of old growth coastal redwoods, as opposed to my older redwood paintings which focus on healthy old growth. It is based indirectly on a large stump in my own backyard which I named “Old Silver.” Two second growth trees flank the beheaded giant, while a golden ray of vertical sunlight shines down to fill the trunk’s absence and suggest its memory. Two plants grow beneath it, vying for the light: invasive english vine and native redwood sorrel. These details tell a story about the reality for most of California’s redwoods, in contrast with my other redwood paintings that idealize the few remaining stands of untouched old growth.
Stout Grove
Acrylic on Canvas, 20″ x 20″ x 0.8″, 2022
This painting is based on the artist’s photograph from within a grand redwood grove at Jedediah Smith State Redwoods, a mountainous park near Crescent City, California. It uses a worm’s eye view to emphasize the scale of the trees, with bright colors that capture summer sunlight streaming down through dense vegetation. The work includes early experimentation with molding paste to emphasize details on the lower trunks with thinner application towards the center, attempting to draw viewers into the perspective of an awed visitor gazing up into the massive canopy.
Redwood with Burl
Acrylic on Canvas, 12″ x 4″ x 1.5″, 2022
Two small canvases combine in a struggle to contain the might of an old growth redwood at the Humboldt Redwoods State Forest. While translating these awesome trees into paintings using photographs from trips up north, I struggled with how to convey their massive, towering presence using such tiny canvases. The entirety of the tree is not visible in the painting, with exaggerated perspective to show the height and girth of the trunk that displays a handsome burl. The daytime forest scene wraps around the canvas edge and vanishes, suggesting that the forest is way beyond what one person can behold.
Giant Grove Sequoia Bark with Fire Scar
Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 24 inches, Summer 2022
