Carved Out

 

Photo of Suze Woolf painting of burned tree
 
Painting Details
Varnished watercolor on torn paper
52" x 10"
 
This tree was carved out by the Tripod Burn on Tiffany Mountain, near the Methow Valley in Washington State. These comments were made by David R. Smith, juror of Northwest Watercolor Society's annual Waterworks Membership exhibit in giving it an award:
 
"Wow...very well done technically...I can almost smell the fire. I also love the intense, beautiful colors and use of value contrast to make this painting pop. The subject is very interesting and unique. At first it brought fond memories...of sitting by a fire. But then of course it is vertical...but rather... a tree after a forest fire. So it's beautiful but devastating and sad... To me this painting is showing us how a tree, even in death, can show us beauty...[in an] exquisitely skillful way the artist has rendered the charred surface of the tree."

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.