Here is the next piece I made in my “into the woods” series using photos I have taken on various hikes. This one of the birch trees was from a trip up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I’ve always loved this capture and have used it in other pieces through the years. Outside of Time was one of my favorites. I really need to do more scouring of estate sales and garage sales for old rulers and other odds n ends.
But back to this piece. Even though my pieces speak to my love of trees and the natural world through the imagery, in my own head I am often thinking of larger themes. Part of me thinks, well, it’s about the image and people can think what they want. Do I really need to share my own thoughts that matter to me, but maybe not to others? Probably not. But obviously I have been keeping this blog for 20 years now, so I do care about sharing my thoughts. When I started this blog all those years ago it was meant to help me articulate my thoughts to help guide me in my work and also to document my journey for myself. It’s just habit. And the final step in my creative process.
Once again, back to this piece. I keep getting side tracked this morning. As my recent past posts have mentioned I have really been thinking a lot about community and the role of that communal energy in upholding society. Our society is made up so many different people, beliefs, backgrounds, but it is necessary for the safety and well being of all that we find the common thread. There is a reason why it’s called a social fabric. So many threads coming together, woven together to create a piece of cloth. There are so many threads that connect us all to each other and make us better and more resilient. If only we had leaders who were more intent in connecting us and seeing the humanity in every single person, rather than severing our connections to each other. Disconnection and severing of the threads only serves to make us weaker.
So those are my thoughts. Or you can just see it as a group of birch trees and sewn pieces of fabric underneath them. It’s both!