Day 7 Adventure with D

Tree at rest area where we always stopped with grandkids; it's filled with memories, but is no longer there; — on Flickr

Artist Evolution Challenge

I joined the Delores Naskrent Artistic Evolution Challenge. It’s for a week. I may be able to keep up. This is Day 7.

Today we were to take something important to us or have a passion for and use all our skills to create an abstract illustration on that topic.

I chose this tree. It’s no longer there. During a horrific wildfire in our state two years ago, this place was used as a command center to stop the wildfire. They need the helicopters to land here, so they build a helicopter pad and chopped down the trees, including this one. So, it was for a good reason. the wildfire was eventually contained and put out.

But this particular tree holds many memories for me. It’s at the rest area between Creston and Davenport on the way to Spokane, Washington. For over thirty years I stopped there. We spent time with the grandkids there and stopped on our way to help my son who was in a serious accident. It meant a real rest and calm for me, a place between worries, a place of shade, a place to walk our dog. I attached many good times, sad times, worry times, growing times to that tree, and was very sad to find it gone. So, I wanted to create something for it and those memories.

The Process and Progress

First and foremost I brought some cheery periwinkle from my garden and its bright green leaves to the canopy of the tree. I added some swirls to extend its branches into my memories. I added butterflies from my new brush set from Delores Naskrent’s website. The ground includes different colors that represent worries, joy, and growing. And the sunshine and shade, the balance. The background is the rock wall with shadows of Scott and me, and my swirl blouse weave which became the sun. And me, a small bit in the life of the tree with the tree enlarged to show it as a tree of life– a piece of my life.

Here are the steps I took to create the abstract for my tree.

My process

And so, a poem, too:

Poetry

Tree of Living

shade in summer
a place to climb
while dog runs through
the bunch grass too
from home to home
traveling calms—
a place of rest, surely,
in between the sad, the joy,
and also all the worries
Sheri Edwards
01.14.24 014.365.24
Poetry/Photography

Tree of Life, influenced by Delores Naskrent and Gustav Klimt’s Tree of Life

#artisticevolutionchallenge #warmup4art #abstractattitudes