2020 in Hindsight

2020 has not been a good year: catastrophic, climate-change driven wildfires from the western US to Australia, a deadly pandemic, and disturbing assaults on democracy. This painting is as much symbolic as it is artistic - a fitting scene for a terrible year, and an attempt to find some beauty in the wreckage left behind. A burnt forest, a discarded face mask, and clearing skies with a hope for a better future.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Snowy Sequoia Solitude

Continuing the theme of isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, here we have a different take on the concept. A lone, ancient sequoia stands in a snowy forest in the Sierra Nevada mountains, far away from civilization. While there are other trees around, none of them have experienced all that this mighty tree has in its thousand or more years of life, so it is still alone, in a way.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Isolation - Humphreys Peak

The theme for the past month or so has been one of isolation and social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. So, I figured I'd paint a scene related to that theme based upon a photo taken on my most recent trip out west in last June. Here, we see Humphreys Peak in the distance - the tallest mountain in Arizona - from somewhere in the desolate, empty lands between Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon. While the mountain and the city of Flagstaff are both around 100 miles away in this view, there is basically nothing around us; it's about as "socially distant" as one can get. This painting was both challenging and easy to paint for the same reason - there's essentially nothing in the scene aside from crumbling desert rocks, some brush, and the distant mountains under floating clouds and a blue sky.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"