“No one sees trees. We see fruits, we see nuts, we see wood, we see shade. We see ornaments or pretty fall foliage. Obstacles blocking the road or wrecking ski slopes. Dark, threatening places that must be cleared. We see branches about to crush our roof. We see a cash crop. But trees--trees are invisible.” Richard Powers, The Overstory
In the spring of 2019, I spent two weeks in a mountain village called Farrera in Spain learning to see trees. I created a series of tree “portraits”, brief sketches that attempted to capture the unique aspect of the trees I chose as subjects. Each sketch was marked with the GPS coordinates of where I stood while I made the drawing so that the viewer could theoretically find the tree growing in the wild. My desire was to make trees more visible, to share the unique identity of each one I encountered and single it out as inherently valuable.
“As he cut, the wildness of the world receded, the vast invisible web of filaments that connected human life to animals, trees to flesh and bones, to grass shivered as each tree fell and one by one the web strands snapped.” Annie Proulx, Barkskins
“…but we are here to clear the forest, to subdue this evil wilderness. Men must change this land in order to live in it. In olden times, men lived like beasts. In those ancient days, men had claws and long teeth, nor could they speak but only growled. To be a man is to clear the forest. I don’t see the trees. I see the cabbages. I see the vineyards.” Annie Proulx, Barkskins
I draw trees because it helps me to slow down and be mindful of my inner states and of the outer state of the natural world. We are in the midst of a climate emergency and scientists say that planting trees will help to slow down the warming of our planet and the drastic consequences of climate change. We have long battled the forest in favor of progress, but now we need to rethink this strategy. Trees can be our allies, if we let them. If we celebrate and honor them as they deserve to be, they might save us.
The original series comprised 52 4x6 inch drawings in pen and ink on cardstock. I am currently working on a second series of trees in my neighborhood of Ottewell, Edmonton. I hope to complete 100 drawings in this series and will invite my neighbors to see the full collection when it is complete.