I have long been interested in painting, but up until this summer I have not stuck with it beyond a week of watercolor at Ghost Ranch or a few acrylic paintings here and there. Two summers ago I spent several days in Georgia with my aunt who is an avid oil painter. I have long admired her work and thought that it would be fun to paint with her. It was a deep and wonderful time and it seemed that perhaps I would continue painting when I got home from that trip. I gathered the necessary equipment and did a few paintings, but didn’t find the pull to paint compelling me to pick up a brush. I struggled with conveying my subject with oil paint in a manner that would match the vision I had in my head. When painting a lemon, I wanted the end result to say lemon. When painting the beach–beach. So, the easel sat in the corner of my studio and waited for me to visit San Francisco. It was there that I found the trees…
