Trees

Creation and production of art can lead to some pretty amazing results, but as I stared out the window of my discussion section this morning I realized that nature is one of the best artists around. There is something simultaneously intricate and simple about a tree . For a time, they are lush green giants that contrast the rich blues and whites of the sky. After a few months the monochromatic green develops into multicolored warmth, the branches strewn with bright oranges, reds, and yellows. As these graceful shapes drift gently to the ground, they reveal the elaborate skeleton they had been covering. A naked tree is really a beautiful thing. Stripped of its leaves, the branches jut and contort in ways that would seem impossible to keep it upright. No tree’s set of branches is like another. The wind gives motion to their existence. If the leaves are actors changing their costumes with the seasons, the branches are an interlude of dancers in the Winter season.

There is nothing like a tree. Tress to hug, trees to tell your secrets, trees to shelter you from the rain, trees to dance with you in the rain. A tree stands for strength, perseverance, and unity. They stand their ground through rain, sleet, snow, and heat until they are forcefully removed or slowly decayed by nature into a lying log. This is not their end, however. This is a new life. As they lie a whole new beauty appears, one that had been formerly overlooked. The trunk. A sculpture all its own. Rough outer, smooth within. Rings keeping track of all its years. The trunk is a storyteller. The trunk is generous, providing for the comfort of animals and humans alike. I love trees with all my heart. They are undeniably a work of art.