Artist Statement for Forest Guardian Series:

Remember that we are of the earth. There is a legend among the tribes of South America that there are plant spirits that look humanoid. They guard the forest and its secrets. I have a friend who saw one once. She said it looked like a human tree.

I saw an aboriginal painting of a family. The mother had branches that spread out and connected to all her family members. The Hawaiians liken the family to the Taro plant and it's intertwined roots. Ohana means family, the root word oha refers to the roots of the Taro, the staff of life.
These stories link us to the plant word and so do my paintings. I wish to celebrate and protect our connection to the world. I created the Forest Guardian Series  to illustrate this message.

These are pyrographic (wood burning) works on wood panel. Painted in Oils.

Forest Guardian, oil, 11 x 14"

     My first painting, “Forest Guardian”, is of girl warrior who looks beseechingly at the viewer. She is strong and fragile like our tenuous connection to nature. On her head is a bird's nest 

Thousand Years Solitude, oil, 11x14


 

 “Thousand Years of Solitude”. The woman is immortal, made of flesh and alabaster. She keeps her face to the sunshine. She's waited to long that weaver birds make a nest of her hair and fungi grow like a gowns ruffles. When will she wake? What wisdom would she bring us of the silent forest?

Tree Spirit 8x16"

 “Tree Spirit”, I am still figuring out. She's half in this world and the other. Let's say that she can only be seen by the worthy and she doesn't know whether to turn towards you to speak or turn away and disappear. Her head supports a tree and home to an Owl, symbol of wisdom.

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