When I was a young child, I used to imagine what could be beneath the soil of my backyard. Sometimes I would picture vast kingdoms buried beneath the soil, or goblin tunnels running like vast ant hills under my feet. I didn’t find those things, but I did discover complex root systems, dens of rabbits and shrews, and beautiful rocks. Since then I have always been fascinated with the hidden aspect of nature, the beauty that requires a keen eye to find.
My painting “Underneath the Woodland” takes inspiration from the resurrective and veiled aspects of nature. There are many divided layers within nature both physically and metaphorically; generally speaking, there are two sides, the seen and unseen. My work deals with both, revealing the visible forest as well as what lies beneath the surface.
There is so much more to the natural world than what meets the eye. In Spring, plants do not just emerge where they like, they lay in wait, sleeping under the soil in the cold hands of Winter, and then finally rise in a bloom of new life. No matter how many times I see a new Spring emerge, I always long for another. As A. E Housman said in his poem ‘Loveliest of Trees,’ “And since to look at things in bloom, Fifty springs are little room…”
Sustainable Lehigh Valley booklet
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