My Favorite Trees

Some of my favorite trees, and the pieces they have inspired....

Enormous ficus tree at a botanical garden in Kauai, Hawaii. Standing next to it those roots came up to my waist in height. I love the way the roots swirl outward from the base, and have used that as inspiration for a number of pieces.

Balance, and Black Knight of Midnight

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Banyan tree in Kauai, HI, along a hiking trail.

When Dragons Dream, Timepiece, and The Still and Silent Places

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Another banyan in Maui, HI. We called this one "the big ole tree ball". It was a banyan that had grown on top of a huge boulder that was lodged in a dry stream bed. The roots draped down and around the sides.

Offerings

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At Rancho Preserve, Los Altos, CA
I grew up around these oaks. There's a large field where they spread their branches to the sky. And along the trails, where it is dark and shady, they are thick with verdant moss.

Wind Machine and Inner Workings

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And a few others:

Rancho Preserve, Los Altos, CA.

Setauket, NY. The skyline and branches are very different on the east coast, from my California trees that have leaves year-round.

Joaquinn Miller Park, Oakland CA. I only came across this one very recently the other day. So it hasn't ever been used as a reference directly; but I feel like this IS the tree I've been painting all the time, even though I never saw it before yesterday!