The Pines

“My goal in moving to Colorado was to relate my work to that landscape, to learn to paint directly from what was out there, to integrate it and make my work authentic. My painting is an amalgam of abstract painting and my study of Chinese painting, of drawings and all that l've observed in nature. I wanted to become connected to a particular landscape, so I could learn from it.

I was drawn to the pines as a motif when I was out in Colorado a couple of years ago. The actual experience of the pines was very hard to translate into drawing because they are much more complicated than even these painted versions show. It was actually looking at Chinese examples that gave me clues as to how to simplify the pines.

My pines were drawn from an amalgam of what I was seeing everyday in the landscape and the Chinese stylizations. This type of pine is more prevalent in Chinese painting of the early 20th century by Wu Chang Shih and Qi Bai Shih, beginners of the modern movement. In their works the trees actually become calligraphy and are much more abstracted than the literal pines seen in older painting. That was a clue to me because it fit my more calligraphic way of painting.

While I was working the pines became an active symbol of per-severance, of standing up to the elements and patience and all of those qualities that are traditionally attributed to them. In the Chinese view of nature plants are very symbolic- bamboo is elegance, orchids are a sign of spring's arrival and prunus represents the contrasts of the seasons. Prunus branches are very gnarled, angular and dramatic, so when their flowers appear winter's austerity is banished by their beauty.

By contrast, the pine tree represents an ability to maintain yourself through the austerity and difficulty of winter. They stand through all adversity, never changing, very permanent. At the end of every I-Ching reading I remember perseverance is always counseled. Hold on, like the pine, because things are always changing and what may be a dark period will turn around later, so you mustn't run away.”