Ravine with Fallen Trees, 2011
oil on canvas board, 18" x 24"
Some of my favorite creek bottoms are choked with fallen trees. Logs are everywhere and I have only recently begun to paint them with an emphasis on the chaos down there. Something about the light and basic shapes of woods and creeks kept me painting in a sort of cleaned up version of Nature. I did away with a lot of the brambles and destruction that you find in the woods, especially in the ravines and creeks. Every once in a while you come across a place where there has been an event, a storm or disease ravaged area, where there are piles of twisted logs and branches. Sometimes they offer great Natural bridges to cross a creek or get from here to there, and sometimes they just keep you out. This was a spot at the Kalamazoo Nature Center where I just saw the tangle as a wonderful bunch of lines and directions to follow as the light filtered through the treetops.
