There are over 140 distinct varieties of trees from around the world on the campus here at Pendle Hill where I live and work. For this reason, so many of my current art works are of, or include, the local trees depicted in various seasons, times of day, and weather conditions.
This print is an image of the spreading root base of an American Beech tree on campus which is over 380 years old, and is the current State champion of it’s kind (Fagus, grandifolia) in Pennsylvania. It is an amazing living thing to see and touch, as the tree is over 91 feet tall, and 262 inches in circumference around the trunk. The gnarly root base can be described as having the appearance of being both “great toes digging into the earth,” or that of “cascading water flowing outward and disappearing down into the soil.”
This particular print was painted directly on a plexiglass plate with Ivory Black oil paint – reduced with oil of cloves – which accounts for some of the granular effect. It was printed on an etching press and then hand-rubbed with a wooden brayer in selected areas before pulling the sheet of paper. I enjoy this work process, where the act of painting and printing meet, especially as the controlled technical aspect of creating the monotype can often result in unexpected but delightful results due to any combination of paper type, print pressure, paint viscosity and application.