Tree of Light, 30″ x 40″ oil on linen canvas, gallery wrapped

The original has found its forever home. Available as hand embellished canvas giclee (numbered, 5) or Artist Proof on heavy paper (numbered 5)

Tree of Light captures a dramatic moment in time in winter, at the golden hour, when the light is just right. We were on a family road trip to Detroit when I saw it on the side of a lonely farm road in Ohio. I slammed on the breaks. “What’s going on?” “What are you nuts?!” “What are you stopping for?!” It is a chorus of ridicule endured by artists who are always on the lookout for beauty. In fact, I’m going to produce a bumper sticker that says, “I break for beauty.” I hope everyone will buy it.

I love when the sun peaks through the clouds near sunset and streams its golden rays across the way to illuminate something spectacular. The illuminated tree is lighter than the sky, lighter than it logically should be. But the logic of nature often has other ideas. I could see this painting in an instant. I saw the thick application of paint, the dark, thin shadows, outlining the forms and emphasizing their importance. This was not just another tree passing by on our high speed rat race to Detroit. This tree called out, with a voice like thunder, “paint me!”