Bristlecone Pine

10x8", oil on panel

I felt like doing a landscape yesterday, so I pulled out a photo from a trip to Bryce Canyon a couple years ago. We were there on Valentine's Day, and it was beautiful weather (at least in the afternoon--pretty unusual for February!). I was into shooting film at the time, and I took lots of photos (always with the idea in the back of my mind that I could paint them sometime--film had a better dynamic value range than digital, at least a couple years ago, and my digital camera is about 8 years old now).

This particular reference photo was from a hike on the bristlecone pine loop. Bristlecone pines are some of the longest living organisms on earth. They can be up to 5,000 years old. And they grow in the rockiest of terrain. I always feel a little floored when I think about something that's been around that long (though this tree definitely looked among the smaller/younger ones on the loop). Here stands this little tree on the very edge of a cliff, bracing against the wind while just barely clinging to a bit of red sandstone, and yet it is somehow able to survive longer than just about anything else. I'm sure there are lots of cheesy analogies I could make here, but I'll leave that up to you :)

I haven't done nearly as much plein air painting as I was hoping to this year. It's so hard to get out, and so much prep/cleanup, so it's a lot easier to just do something at home. Working from photos isn't my favorite, but I don't really mind it as much for landscape as I do people. Anyway, as usual, pretty quick little sketch and nothing terribly special here. Everything I do always feels so new. I wonder if it always will? At least it wouldn't be boring. But I'm sure time and experience will somewhat temper that feeling of uncharted terrain.