Roots


Right after high school I went to an Assembly of God Youth Convention in Salem, Oregon, and on the way there, our group stopped at Multnomah Falls, a very beautiful tourist area. Armed with my parents' manual focus 35mm camera (back before the days of digital photography) I set out on the trail up to the top of the falls. This mangled old tree trunk was at the side of the trail and I thought it was so neat looking, the way the roots seemed to writhe and twist around each other, so I photographed it. It is one of the best photographs I have ever taken.
This summer I pulled it out of my photo album and decided to try to paint it. I sketched it out on my canvas, then I painted in the lines and values in a sepia tone, then added wash after wash over it until I was almost satisfied with it, then I painted in details and sharpened up some of the edges. This is Roots, in oil, 2009.

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