Dear Friends,

A friend and former colleague gave me a wonderful insight last fall. During a visit to my September exhibition, he looked around at my landscapes with their foregrounds of ancient Douglas Firs, leaned back, and drawled, “You should paint old-growth cedars”.

I had plenty of raw material. On arrival in BC in 1991, I had been stunned silent by the spectacular, solemn beauty of massive Douglas firs, spruces and cedars – particularly in sacred places like Cathedral Grove and the rain forest trails in Pacific Rim National Park. Over the years I had taken many, many photographs of ancient trees – with no clear plan of how they might be used.

I wanted to make portraits of individual trees, not landscape paintings of forests. However, it proved a quite a struggle to get started. I was stuck. I kept circling back into the pattern of my landscape works – considering potential foregrounds and/or backgrounds.

I was focusing on the forest, not the tree. I needed to concentrate on the tree.

After several months, I had an epiphany. I rediscovered the remarkable paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder: in particular, his portraits of German princes and leaders of the Protestant Reformation. He painted detailed realistic faces but with backgrounds of startling, solid color – chartreuse, blue and turquoise – rather than the traditional neutral layered grey.

Lucas Cranach the Elder: Portraits of Martin Luther and Frederick the Wise

This sparked the needed inspiration. I would echo Cranach by surrounding each portrait with pastel colours with the addition of stained markings to echo the dance of the trunks, the contortions of the great branches, and the energy and resilience of the great red and yellow cedars. I would forego foreground and not depict the enveloping forests. The series became portraits of individual ancient cedars with a strong emphasis on colour, texture and character.

I am very excited about how these works have turned out. I hope I get to see you at the Gallery during the first two weeks in October. I plan to be there every day during the scheduled opening hours. I will open early/stay late if your schedule makes life difficult.

You may also view Portraits – The Ancient Ones – online. Either way, let me know how these paintings make you feel.

With great affection and respect, David