A Response to Wildfires
Most of the time I start work without much of a plan, and this mixed media painting is no exception! I started work using watercolors over a found background on a 16″x20″ canvas board. The four images below are progressive stages/drafts of this piece. The fiery end result evolved from the simplistic ghostly dead trees you see below to a chaotic inferno in red and gold with floating embers, leaves, and feathers. I took a couple of days to determine that this piece would be a response to wildfires in & around Los Angeles this January.
I can’t say that I like the painting, but perhaps it was a necessary exercise. The increasing number of unmanageable wildfires large neighborhoods and small towns is not something any of us should be able to ignore.




As usual with larger artwork that I photograph rather than scanning, the pictures are all taken with different lighting. Dark edges and grey background are actually the same color in all four drafts above, although there is less and of the original grey visible. I think some photos were taken in natural daylight, some with a mix artificial and daylight at various times of day… of course this makes the colors look quite different.
“When Water isn’t Enough” has difficult subject matter, and the result is a very dark piece of work. It is most certainly a response to wildfires that are an increasing threat to us all.
How can the tiny fragments of greenery survive the fires? What about the animals and the birds? The moon will shine on regardless.