2011
On a walk in the woods near my house was a stump. It was a fairly odinary stump but to me it seemed to have a lot of character. The morning light shined through the woods behind it and filtered wonderfully around me in hazy shadows. There was a strong tree standing next to it, and several rocks around showing a real home that this tree once had. I felt like that tree had a presence in it's absence and was moved to paint that feeling.
I reworked subtle parts of this painting after it hung in my house for a year or two. Sometimes it takes a while to solve some of the prickly problems of an image and a long series of viewings seems to bring out those areas that just have to be altered. I have worked this way for years, letting paintings settle on me for a long period of time before I feel like they are truly done.