A Tree Becomes a Talking Tower

"A Tree Becomes a Talking Tower" - acrylic on repurposed plywood panel, 18 x 18.5 x .75.  Ready to hang (sides are painted; no need to frame.  Hanging wire is attached).  From the series "A View From the Gorge."   Available here and at Artfinder.

In the beginning and in the end the only decent
Definition is tautology: man is man,
Woman woman, and tree tree, and world world,
Slippery, self-contained; catch as catch can.
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Which when caught between the beginning and end
Turn other than themselves, their entities unfurled,
Flapping and overlapping -a tree becomes
A talking tower, and a woman becomes world.

from I Am That I Am, by poet Louis MacNeice

A Tree Becomes a Talking Tower

It's funny what you might stumble upon while hiking in the gorge. Including this tangled root web, which dazzled me and also tested my crampon-enhanced boots with slick bark and mud.  I joked, in the moment, that the advertisement for said crampons might read "Prevents slipping on snow, ice, mud and rock.  Will not prevent tripping. "  Ha! 

And then I stumbled upon this poet, Louis MacNeice, while tumbling down the rabbit hole of googling poetry.  And voila!  An Irish poet (and an outsider, no less) I hadn't heard of and now delight in.  And as the tree becomes a talking tower, perhaps this woman can become - not just woman - but world.

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About the art: Beginning with an image from a recent hike and a piece of unprimed, repurposed plywood...drawing with charcoal coming in with layers of paint and moving it around with whatever tools my hands can grab.  Fighting the very heavily=grained plywood for several layers, then surrendering to the texture and allowing it to dominate the painting.  It is, after all, a painting of trees and roots and wood.  Which, in its abstracted form, very well could be a talking tower.

inspiration image from Falls Creek Falls

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Thanks so much for the responses to our READER GIVEAWAY wish list request!  Wonder Mike, after much grumbling and stretching, left his cozy spot on the sofa to choose a winner - congratulations Lisa G!  An original painting is coming your way!