Under The Sycamore Tree

As my Dad's favorite author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau would say, "We need the tonic of the Wilderness..."

Ahh, the Sycamore tree. One of my most favorite trees ever with it's mottled, exfoliating bark and white washed upper limbs that contrast it's winter silhouette against the blue sky. Ahhh, yes, trees are beautiful to me and being a landscape architect, it's a no brainer that this is the best way to combine the two and embrace my appreciation and connection to the tree and art. As Frank Lloyd Wright said, "The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth." Tis true, tis true...

This is the start to my painting. You're viewing the tree from the ground, looking up into into the sky to see it's silhouette. I plan to spend more time being meticulous, adding a million little branches and limbs to dull out the red (seemingly a favorite color of mine) and where it's golden hues are brightest I'll be adding gold leaf... sort of this metaphor you see, as maybe Robert Frost would write in his poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay".

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Temptation? Cycle of life? Hope? New beginnings? Transitory perfection? Oh god, enough of the deep shit... Let's see how it goes! More to come...