56″ x 61″
FLYING OVER A FOREST FIRE
When one watches a forest fire from the ground, the overwhelming feeling is of its enormous destructiveness to nature and property. Trees needed for lumber, the habitat of wildlife, peopleʼs homes, jobs, and business are all gone.
But from the air the feeling is one of awe about the forces of nature and that there is a long range view of benefit and renewal. Strangely, you might almost feel a love affair between the forest and the fire that consumes it. And someday soon, like the phoenix, trees, flowers and wildlife will rise up healthier than before.
The visual benefit of this experience, in creating the painting, is how you see light. There is light from the flames and how that light reflects off of the smoke. And then there is sunlight reflecting off of the clouds mixing with the smoke. And how these different light keep shifting and changing colors. In some areas of the painting, the colors are exaggerated to emphasize this movement.
The outer edge of the painting also expands on this concept and in one area there is a see-through element to express being above the event. There are forest findings such as twigs, wood chips and pine cones constructed into the painting. In addition, three larger panels of burned wood have been restored and are part of the pictureʼs surface.
The painting is symbolic. The fire is real.