Missing (trees) presents memories of six trees from my past paired with small paintings in a hybrid Dos Rapporte structure (sewn on tapes with interior tackets, drummed at the foredge). The paintings (oil on prepared paper) are mounted on hand-dyed rag papers with walnut ink drawings. The texts are hand-written, also in walnut ink, on translucent, hand-dyed paper. Book covers are craquel dyed goat over boards, labels are laser toner on cork. Housed in a custom drop spine box that has bits of bark cast in epoxy resin on the tray base with spine and cover labels of goat with laser toner.

Below is an example of the text accompanying a painting of a Blue Spruce branch:

I once spent summers sleeping next to the tallest blue spruce in the valley where Henson Creek & North Henson Creek intersect. I returned one spring to find the top two-thirds of the tree broken off. Somewhat miraculously, the tree missed crashing down onto the bunkhouse that was my summer home. The tapered tree top lay partially suspended, trapped in the slowly melting ice of the beaver pond. I moved away after the tree fell.

Materials:

paper, ink, varnish, oil, wood, metal, gold foil, bark specimens, epoxy resin, mica, book cloth, book board

Video: