Imagine that you are in love with a tree. Not just a particular tree-though that, too, may be the case -but with an entire species of tree, the whole of its expres-sion, the great trunk, the rough vertical rivulets of bar, the long sweeping branches adorned in green lace, even the flavor of the bright spring buds – sour, like capers, and excellent with potatoes. But mostly the Presence of the tree, the dark quiet she creates, her sanctuary.
This painting is my tribute to the great Eastern Hemlock, which is in decline throughout most of its range due to the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect. May her dark branches spread their magic again across the streams and glades of the Southern Appalachians.
