Fire

 

By forces seemingly antagonistic and destructive, Nature accomplishes her beneficiant designs – now a flood of fire …again in the fullness of time an outburst of organic life.

John Muir, Biologist, Naturalist

 

 

Burnt forest, Sequoia National Park, CA

Burnt forest, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, California

 

 

Forest fire, Yosemite National Park, CA   Forest fire, northeastern Wyoming   Forest fire, northeastern Wyoming   Forest fire, Beerwah, Queensland, Australia   Forest fire, Oak, Yosemite National Park, CA
                 
Charred Sequoia stump, Kings Canyon National Park, CA   Smouldering Redwoods and Sequoias, Sequoia National Forest, CA   Ponderosa Pine cone, Yosemite National Park, CA   Smouldering Sequoias, Sequoia National Forest, CA   Smouldering Sequoia stump, Kings Canyon National Park, CA
                 
Umpqua National Forest, Oregon - forest fires Sept. 2011   Umpqua National Forest, Oregon - forest fires Sept. 2011   Fireplace log   Umpqua National Forest, Oregon - forest fires Sept. 2011   Umpqua National Forest, Oregon - forest fires Sept. 2011
                 
Rogers Pass, Hwy 1, BC, Canada   Arbutus renewal, Victoria, BC, Canada   Charred Mexican Pine, Sierra Madres Mtns, Mexico   Giant Sequoia bark has fire resistance qualities   Giant Redwood tree fire resistance, CA, USA
                 
Charred driftwood, Oceanside OR   Moss on charred log, Sequoia National Park, CA   Moss on charred log, Sequoia National Park, CA   Moss on charred log, Sequoia National Park, CA   Burnt Redwood log, Sequoia National Park, CA
                 
Charred Sugar Pine, central California   Grand Canyon National Park area   Ponderosa Pine survivor, Yosemite National Park, CA   1984 fire - forest renewal, Adelaide, South Australia   Charred Mexican Pine, Sierra Madres Mtns, Mexico
                 
Arbutus, Victoria Park, Vancouver Island, BC   Natural sculpture, Mariposa Grove, Sequoia National Forest, CA   Charred remnants, Yosemite National Park, CA   Natural sculpture, Mariposa Grove, Sequoia National Forest, CA   Carbon Footprint, Sequoia National Forest, CA
                 

 

 

Featured Art and its inspiration

Paint Arson, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted. 

Paint Arson, 11 x 11 x 3 inches acrylics on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted

Buying a new jar of Cadmium Red medium hue was just the thing to reboot, then re-route some old habits I was falling back into, like over-working paintings. Here I began with a lush Redwood forest in mind, thinking I could safely stir up some inspiration with the hot scarlet under my usual cool green palette… I did not intend to start a fire!
A new color invigorates the work process like nothing else can, and adds renewed life to the results as well. Incorporated as a base, straight out of the tube or mixed with your usual palette, a new color changes everything. The strength and intensity of this color as a base dictates an unintended but interesting direction, and it’s in charge for a while, so I just follow where it leads. I hope I can manage it.
Painting, whatever the subject may be, is a journey through all kinds of unanticipated thoughts and associations; some are short and sweet, ending within 1 – 6 hours and not much more than a visual, and some are packed full of adventure that isn’t even realized until surfacing from a few hours of work.

The forest fires were still smoldering when we walked through the Californian Redwood and Sequoia forests in November 2008, and my memory lapses into romanticized imagery of smoky rays of light in the sunset. It’s perplexing that the effects of forest devastation could be so pretty when the fact is that just the week before, a raging fire was the cause of all that beauty, and not just the smoky sunset.

Fire enables the entire forest to flourish. As I’m painting this, I’m thinking about all kinds of how fire is a naturally occurring event like rain and snow, and is an essential part of forest cycles…and of how fire is destructive but supports renewal and re-creation as well.
Fire opens pine cones to disperse their seeds, controls pests and disease. By burning weeds and weaker trees that rob sunlight and nutrients from healthier trees and plants, it also clears the way for new seeds to sprout. Ash aerates, and contains properties that determine the quality of soil and what is able to grow there. Realizing that certain trees only regenerate with the aid of fire, like the giant Sequoia cones only release seeds through fire, today’s standard fire management practice is to allow naturally occurring forest fires to burn, still with a mind to sensibly control it.
So what element does it take to open a painter’s eyes? A hot new jar of Cadmium Red medium hue!

 

 

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