Pine Orange
12x9 oil on canvas
It's funny how our mind works. Our left brain tells us a subject matter must look a certain way, while our creative right brain sits back, quietly waiting for the left brain to exhaust itself with all the ridiculous arguments it believes to be true.
Once exhausted the left brain surrenders, allowing a magical creative flow to take over the neural pathways between the brain, eye and hand...
Some of my favorite landscape paintings were created by the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and The Group of Seven, therefore I am not surprised that this recent painting is showing influences from my intensive, on-going research.
Pine Orange is from a reference photo taken on our recent holiday. The rusty orange tones in the forest landscape caught my eye... the pine beetle trail of devastation zig-zagging its way through the lodgepole pines in Western Canada and into the States. The unfortunate death of such a vast number of trees has given rise to some new industry here in Canada (and the States).
By looking at the pine beetle problem from a different angle, creative solutions and uses for the blue/grey figured wood have developed. Numerous furniture companies and builders are reclaiming the wood and putting its unusual beauty to good use, thereby finding a silver lining in the cloud that hangs over many of our forests. While at the same time creating 'green' (or is that blue/grey) building products which ironically can be considered environmentally friendly.
Talk about turning lemons into lemonade!
12x9 oil on canvas *(needs some time to dry)
NFS
