"Light and Dark Blue Tree Opening" 2021
Acrylic and coarse pumice gel on wood panel.
Unvarnished 
4" x 4"  
 
I started making "Tree Opening" Paintings at the end of 2021.  They began from a single frame in my sketchbook when I visited my family in California this past year.  I sat there looking out over the hills in Berkeley, able to see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance through the trees. The light was blinding, but vivid and brilliant.  And I remember sitting on the steps outside the house looking out at this scene through the trees–at peace but in awe of the world around me and how much can change in so little time, and amazed that despite so much loss in our world, we can still have moments of joy.  Somehow, we can still pull or be pulled forward into the brilliant light of the sky.  They’ve developed into a series of pieces that aren’t singularly about my Mom’s death, and more about where I am now after more than a year has passed.