TSoT = The Story of Trees
This morning as I was listening to the church service on television, the blog I wanted to write was occasionally stealing my attention. I prepared the images for this blog yesterday and the “towering tree” was clearly visible in my memory bank. I thought of the prominence of trees in the Bible. How the prophets and the writers often used trees as metaphors to depict strength and blessing. I will add a good example.
Ezekiel 31:3
(New American Standard Bible)
'Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon
With beautiful branches and forest shade,
And very high,
And its top was among the clouds'.
I know, my image of a typical Kalahari tree is a far cry from the tree described above, but I think this verse was the best fit for Towering Tree. Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration for all people and the creatives have been drawing from this source for ages. I need to divert slightly here before I mention an Impressionist master who thoroughly immersed himself in the beauty of nature.
If one looks at the composition of Towering Tree, one may not think it strange, but about 170 years ago, a composition like this was not really seen in the art circles. It took the invention of the camera to bring a framed composition like this one to the attention of the artists. If you imagine you are looking through the view finder of a camera, this scene may not seem odd at all. However, before the camera came on the scene, landscapes were generally more pastoral and they included a myriad of items, and a focus on a singular tree trunk was not acceptable. Things changed, as you have gathered. https://kiamaartgallery.wordpress.com/tag/influence-of-photography-on-modern-art/
When I made this painting, I remember that it was actually delightful to work on this trunk that was disrupting the rhythm of the more “traditional” scenes I was painting in this series. In the creative process or in the pursuit of topics, I think we often complicate things by wanting to “generalize”; we don’t need to do a “pastoral” scene anymore. Perhaps we could focus more often on an object or item that is closer; the dynamics will change and so will our perspective. For example, Towering Tree gave me ample opportunity to contrast simple twig outlines against the blue of the sky. My vantage point was higher and the landscape further below, which opened up a larger skyline.
Nowadays our digital cameras (cell phone cameras) are such wonderful devices, because we can photograph, record, crop, enlarge and change perspectives even before we put pen to paper or brush to canvas. The possibilities at our disposal are actually over-powering. Our phones placed a “happiness factory” within our reach.
As an art teacher I often tell my students, when they tell me that they struggle to study the art history, to do their summaries and then to record themselves reading it out loud and then they have to listen to their own voices and in so doing, some of them may actually retain what they have to learn. My students think I am from another planet, but “recording” is what we as humans (and creatives) do, whether it is writing a story, creating a painting, planting trees for future generations or simply laying out a garden and expecting colour to appear.
In our Grade 11 syllabus we are currently discussing the Impressionists and Claude Monet is a wonderful figure we are studying. If you need an emotional or creative lift today, please look at his garden and read the story of how he started to create this garden; he even “illegally” diverted a river it seems. He drew inspiration from nature and eventually his garden invaded his whole artistic career. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128245987
I think all of us want to be “towering trees”, at least in our eyes, if we don’t care about the rest of the world, but very often we forget to enjoy the process. I don’t think Monet knew that the beauty of flowers and trees would pull him forward with such force! May we all find our particular taste of beauty that will provide us with stamina to reach our desired peaks.
I hope to see you at the next tree in the next blog. Remember there is art in your heart and may you be towering until we meet again. Once again, I have added links to my Shopify-store where you can see Towering Tree in different formats.
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