Left In The Woods (2021)

California quail

and old Morris car

Acrylic on canvas

15 1/2” X 24”

While roaming my local woodlands one fall morning, I found myself winding along an old but well used logging road. I came upon a clearing that at one time was a flat area used to load logging trucks to haul logs down the mountain. Decades later and throughout the years, these places are used for campsites throughout the year by people seeking a more rustic experience and also by hunters in the fall. For reasons unknown, this landing is this old Morris’ final resting place. After being stripped of anything useful, and crushed by a tree, it makes an unusual sight in the forest. I liked the form of the car amidst the natural and calm of the forest. It made me think of this place over time, a once thickly wooded woodland, then logged and replanted to let the forest reclaim itself slowly over time. A fast moving wildfire has ravaged this place long ago, humans have passed through many times, leaving behind massive clues like this car but the forest continues its steady growth and existence.