I've been fascinated by the tree line since I first became aware that such a thing existed on a long ago drive up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains in New Mexico. I asked my father why there were no trees on the mountaintop, and he said "Because it's above the tree line." I could see the line from where we were, still at some distance, and I kept my eyes open anticipating a closer look as we drove up the mountain. But what I saw was a gradual thinning of trees (mostly pine and spruce) that exposed more and more of the rock and soil that supported their growth at lower elevations. Thinking back over the drive, I recalled that the mountains had first appeared blue shading toward purple, like clouds on the horizon. As we got closer, a line appeared where the green of the trees bled into the complex gray blue brown of the part of the mountain extending above them. So the "line" was not so much a line as a region where two color fields, one green and one gray blue brown, collided. The color fields were natural phenomena that depended on what could grow in one place and not in another -- and both "contained" the same colors but in different combinations.
My twelve year old self wouldn't have said it in exactly those words, but the idea of lines emerging from gradual transitions as color fields collided was planted there and then. And that idea informs this painting, acrylic on matboard applied with a palette knife and scraped to expose sharp edges as green -- dominant below -- rises through red to meet descending blue -- dominant above. There are many lines that coalesce into two broken lines, one between the trees and the exposed earth of the mountain and the other between the mountain and the patch of sky above.
When I first completed the painting, I finished it with a simple bamboo frame and no mat, and that is still my preference (though I could also see it in a thin silver metal edge frame). I did use styrene glazing when I framed the painting for a show, but I'm leaning against it now. If I do opt for the extra protection afforded by glazing, I will add a mat and/or a linen liner to separate the glazing from the acrylic surface to keep the texture of the surface clear. That would mean a larger finished size and would have some impact on the price. (The listed price is for the unfinished painting.) If you are interested and have a framing preference, please let me know. You can contact me by using either the "inquire" or "purchase" button.
included in the 2014 Artists Association of Northern Colorado Online Juried Show.
- Subject Matter: abstract landscape
- Created: 2014
- Collections: abstracts, acrylic, landscapes