From an aerial view, the pink mist shrouds the mint green landscape, as a stream weaves an s-curve through the trees. The eyes shift from the dark masses in the foreground, into the light blue horizon where someone’s smoke drifts on the wind. The light strikes just the caps of trees in a line, making leaves turn orange and skeleton branches become red. To drift above it all, gives one vantage on the lay of the land, and detached, floating observation.

I feel that the metaphor for looking beyond the tree line of our daily lives is important right now. Those looming figures who often block the view must not overshadow our perspective of the future. The waves of social trees can be interesting, but there is something more. We need and search for a transcendent vantage point, where the bigger picture can be seen. The curving path of the stream can signify the ways in which we must bend and swerve through life, always reaching for that final merging with the lake or ocean.

This painting was inspired from a hot air balloon ride some years ago, and now it takes on a new narrative for the prospects of the moment and the future.

It is the largest painting I have done in a while at 4 feet by 7 feet acrylic on canvas, which helps encompass the vastness of the landscape.