Deep Creek Triplet

 

Photo of Suze Woolf painting of burned tree
 
Painting Details
Varnished watercolor on laser-cut paper, laminated to polycarbonate backing
52 x 31
 
This tree is from a ridge east of Mt. Rainier in Washington State, accessed up the Deep Creek Trail. The Norse Peak fire burned this three-trunk conifer in 2015. It was a severe technical challenge to create the illustration -- with over 1700 separate vector objects in software, the largest such file I have ever made. I am still looking for an ideal backing material than can be laser-cut from a simplified version of the same file, but in this photo is has been suspended by monofilament line from hooks above the image, casting wonderful shadows.

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.