Fire-Adapted (Low Severity)

Painting Details
Varnished watercolor on torn paper
52" x 35"
 
This redwood, in the Lady Bird Grove of Northern California's series of state and national redwood parks, had been burned at its foot and had a number of small singed areas. But with its thick bark, it survived the threat and continued to grow to its enormous height and circumference. Like other fire-adapted species, it could tolerate low-severity burns.

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.