Chris James Cooper
Roots Over Granite, Killarney by Chris James Cooper, Image 1.
A close-in study of exposed roots gripping wind-smoothed Killarney granite, painted en plein air in 2000. Cooper draws the viewer down to eye level with the forest floor, where sinewy red-brown roots weave across pale rock before disappearing into the pine and fern beyond. The composition reflects his ongoing interest in the geology of the La Cloche range — pink granite worn by glaciation — and the resilience of trees rooted directly into stone, a recurring motif in his Killarney sketches. Signed and dated on the reverse: “Chris James Cooper, Killarney 2000.”