The Dead Trees of Hwy 152
One of my favorite places to go, where a completely different
landscape can be enjoyed, is way out east, off of Hwy 152,
well beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. Whenever I’ve had
the opportunity to head out that way, I’ve always come back
with interesting compositions. On one trip out that way, I
encountered an entire orchard, that had been allowed to die, and
then burned. But the trees were left there, undisturbed, leaving
an interesting, mangled mess of jet black forms, reaching skyward.
On yet another trip out that way, I encountered the early remnants of
a housing development, that never got off the ground, except for some
cement curbs poured, and what looked like pine or redwood trees, that
were initially planted, but then, completely abandoned, and left to die
in the brutal Central Valley summer heat. Left standing, they still
seem stoic in these compositions.
landscape can be enjoyed, is way out east, off of Hwy 152,
well beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. Whenever I’ve had
the opportunity to head out that way, I’ve always come back
with interesting compositions. On one trip out that way, I
encountered an entire orchard, that had been allowed to die, and
then burned. But the trees were left there, undisturbed, leaving
an interesting, mangled mess of jet black forms, reaching skyward.
On yet another trip out that way, I encountered the early remnants of
a housing development, that never got off the ground, except for some
cement curbs poured, and what looked like pine or redwood trees, that
were initially planted, but then, completely abandoned, and left to die
in the brutal Central Valley summer heat. Left standing, they still
seem stoic in these compositions.