The Topography of Fire

Image of a Suze Woolf painting

Painting Details
Watercolor on shaped Arches watercolor paper
51 x 20
 
The dead snag was not far off the West Rim trail in the Little Siberia area in Zion National Park. Very rough bark contrasted with smooth iridescent carbon on this trunk. I was also hypnotized by the many tiny contours in this almost topographical "map" of fire damage. Look for the miniature strata along the deep groove in the lower left portion of the trunk.
 
From The Curator's Statement, exhibit catalog, Watercolor USA exhibit in Springfield, MO, p. 5:
"....However, we are also seeing work that pushes the traditional boundaries of watercolor into new territory. For example, Suze Woolf applies watercolor to torn paper, varnishing the painting's surface, to recreate the bark of a burned tree. Encased between acrylic sheets, the painting exudes multi-dimensional qualities and feels larger than life, but is yet contained within the two-dimensions of the paper's surface."

As the climate warms, forest fires are becoming more frequent and catastrophic in the western United States. My deep anxiety with the impacts of climate change on wilderness are emerging in this series. Burned-over areas of forest are riveting. Unfamiliar tree forms are newly exposed. Formerly hidden terrain features become visible. Normal greens, blues and browns are transformed. All the worst fires of the last fifty years have occured in the last five years.

Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about any of my images. All represent original paintings, not reproductions. I have many more paintings than are shown on this site. And, since I frequently work in series, there may be additional views of the subjects shown here.