A workshop attendee showed our group a black and white image looking up from within a copse of trees. I liked the image and must have filed it away in my head.
A month later, I stepped into a local copse of trees, looked up, and by golly, it was the same group of trees! I was attracted by the seeming interconnectedness of the branches. I’d recently been reading about the science of tree communication, and the branches reminded me of that. (The Secret Life of Trees, Finding the Mother Tree, etc.) I could have used “branch” instead of “bough” in the title; I just think “bough” sounds more poetic.
The theory references the new, exciting science of trees. Science can inform our art. Visually, the fall-colored leaves against a blue sky, highlighted by clouds, provide for an active color image. And of course, the trunks—if one leading line is good, why not have nine? Using the wide angle really makes them reign from above. I worked the trunks to reveal bark detail.
A few months later, while presenting at Kanab, Utah’s Amazing Earth Festival, someone commented on the heart! See it? It was not initially seen by me, but once pointed out, I can’t unsee it! I actually considered cloning a portion of it out because the ubiquitous heart is way overused, if you ask me, but you know, maybe nature was just sending me love!
