At one time I lived alongside a natural wetlands. Here, ancient Cottonwoods live and die amid repeated cycles of flooding and drought. The continual evolution of these trees from thriving giants to decaying carcasses to sun bleached ghosts captured me in this series. As I painted, I began to reflect on the many layers of recalling and recording involved in the series, and so realized that my thoughts and changing perceptions are as much the subject here as are the trees, the water, the snags and the crags. And with all human thought, all human memory, there is a decision to be made: shall it be beautiful, or shall it be ugly?
