Learning To Survive Like A Tree
"Somewhere Between a Breath and a Breeze"
It occurred to me that the works I have been doing lately are about surviving. The year 2020 will long be remembered in history and we are all a part of this moment in time. Which is what I base my works on documenting moments in time.
I recently finished "Survived" a pastel and charcoal piece on paper. It has been submitted to the website: 911Memorial.org the Artist's Registry, for approval to be added to their online collection. That tree piece, includes memories of 9-11 architectural shapes from NY and VA. The final touch was adding, very lightly, the flight numbers of the four planes that changed us that day. To read more about the Survivor Tree you can read my blog post on 9-11.
"Survived"
pastel & charcoal on paper
The Tree of Life piece, "Somewhere Between a Breath & a Breeze" is my latest of surviving trees. This piece is a mixed medium work on paper. The materials used were watercolor: paint, crayons, & pencils, with pastel sticks & pencils, black & white charcoal. The image comes from photographs I took of this tree hanging on to the edge of the hill along the beach in Olympic National Park, WA. We were camping at Kalaloch, just a walk to the beach where the tree lives, surviving by holding on to the sides of the hill. As the soil erodes away with rain and wind, it still holds as firm as it can to the earth. This tree has redirected it's roots, reaching out to it's sides in order to live.
I look at these trees, many others that grow out of rock formations, along the side of a mountain and think to myself - I need to be more like a tree. Life this year has been filled with so many unknowns. I have been working harder at trying to find some peace. Working on meditation to calm the pain in my heart. As I have been working on these trees as I look at some of the trees in my own yard I see what they need to do to survive. They move with the wind, they follow the sun and adjust their roots for maximum availability to receive nutrients, to survive. So, how do I be more like a tree? I will follow the sun and the moon, they guide me to be outside in nature. Make adjustments in the directions I go, making sure that I spend more time in my studio. Making art, is my connection to calm, even in times that it was most difficult I found a way to create. When I could not use my dominate hand, I learn to adjust and reached out with my non-dominate hand. When I was pretty much bedridden I would walk into my studio and lay down on the floor, looking up through sky lights at the trees. Everything in life is a learning experience. I am learning to spend more time in nature, in my studio, checking in with others, doing what I need to do to express my thoughts, my feelings, not overwhelm myself, others, to be flexible. Time changes, life changes, the earth changes and we need to find ways to work with those changes for the better.
My hope is that my art touches you in some way. That it gives you peace and calms your heart. I will keep working on being me as a tree even if it is just through my art. More to come on that idea...
Take care, mask up and be safe, linda hp
www.lindaharrisonparsons.com
