Melancholy Tree Aceo

Something in this tree was sad and mournful.. That is was pale and twisted... reaching. And not quite balanced on the ground that it was planted in -Living over-shadowed by a darker, stronger tree... It seemed sad, almost resigned. Depressed and deep in a foggy haze. Almost human.
I've been doing a new series of photographs based on trees. It's about the normal things I see everyday... that when taken out of context - defined in a small photograph - become odd, different...somehow larger than... much different than they appear at first glance.

Trees are silent watchers around me all the time. As part of my day they are just blurs but when looked at closely I can see how much like people they are... how they've spent years growing towards warmth and light, twisting and arching to get what they need, sometimes becoming bent and misshapen in the process. I can see the nicks, bumps and scars that happened along the way...and the healing.

People grow the same way - seeking warmth and sun, growing around barriers...eventually showing their scars... some looking gnarled and stooped in the end. There is a beauty in the trees that speaks of survival and it echos the beauty of surviving a hard life. Of having made it through... Of having lived another day... Of beating the odds.

Surviving is a complicated thing that doesn't always come easy... and it's success is sometimes measured in scars.

The photos really dont do this card justice....This card was done in many steps. The base is mat board cut into aceo format (2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches) covered with different art papers to make the background collage. They were attached, like all my collages with two different types of acrylic mediums. The main image was printed on clear vinyl to compliment the hazy image. You can even seem some of the background collage through the image but I kept the background muted as it suited the mood.

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