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Starry BeechWatercolor PaintingPowder based watercolor on 140 lbs, acid-free, watercolor paper, 12" x 9"
This painting is based on a Weeping Beech Tree from Allentown, NJ and starry nights as I have seen in the Arizona wilderness and other places. I am grateful to have seen starry nights with a mind-boggling amount of stars. Even though the night skies are no longer pure in so many towns and cities there are still places, which the stars sing their glorious praises. My eyes have seen an wondrous display of heavenly lights and my pupils have been massaged by photons from seven hundred million light years away, approximately. The inspiration from such memories leads me to paint Starry Tree paintings. Starry nights have always been a source of inspiration to me. They always gave me sense of awe and impotus to ask the deeper questions about life and the Creator's role or existence in it. Even though this tree painting does not depict the tree roots the ground itself, every tree painting is a symbol for groundedness to me. At the same time sky and stars in this painting are symbols for growing and striving towards heaven and for the truth. The contrast between all the subjects - tree, sky and stars - captures various yin-yang relationships, including light and darkness, stillness and activity; simplicity and depth; heaven and earth. The tree itself takes on various forms, including animals and feminine shapes. Typically, when using these watercolor paints the action of the paints creates forms, which aren't intentionally planned. Many of the forms in this painting were not initially planned, but once I say them emerge I had the choice to embellish them, hide or change them altogether. The female body within the trunk, as well as a woman's face and long hair are found within branches. Further, I used the branches to form a couple of animals, including a cat towards the top of the paining and the profile of three, dolphins in the middle and left of the painting. There is also a subtle and hinted yin-yang symbol towards the top center of the painting formed from a weeping bough. This is the second Starry Tree painting I have made and I was motivated to make it by a woman from San Francisco who contacted me through this site in regards to the availability of a Starry Tree and Autumn Tree painting. Maybe she's the connection to the female forms in this painting...either way this painting was made somewhat in tandem with my third Starry Tree painting called Starry Beech II. Last, a shooting star is another unique symbol in this painting, neither of the other two Starry Tree paintings have shooting stars. This shooting star represents a good omen. It also speaks of the layers of beauty within the universe. When a shooting star is seen under a starry sky the viewer is blessed by seeing a beautiful and wondrous thing in front of a universe of beautiful and wondrous things. Now, if you can find the woman's face which right above the trunk, then you may be able to see that the she is watching the shooting star. (The woman's face is comprised of two, stars for her eyes; one, star for her mouth; and thin branches for the outline of her face and hair.) When ever I see a shooting star I am pleased and it so happened that after nearly competing this painting I went for a walk. It was a cold, clear winter night and I came across two trees whose branches formed a canopy. While gazing through the canopy at the numerous stars a glorious shooting star streaked across the sky. It lasted so long that I turned my head so my eyes could following it. In longevity and intensity, it was the brightest shooting star I have ever seen. Providence is joyous thing. For a moment it seemed like my painting came alive, I could not have planned better.
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