I call this new piece Regal Bearing. It’s 30″ square and is a continuation of the style and color of much of my recent work.
I find myself viewing this not as a landscape but as a piece of portraiture. There’s a seense of orderliness and formality in the composition that brings this sense of a head and shoulders pose to mind. When I look at this I see the red tree as the head atop the neck formed by the mound which is emerging from shoulders formed by the fields. I see this as a portrait of a monarch from the 19th century dressed in grand military regalia, the field comprised of alternating rows creating a sense of a sash or epaulets. It’s this visualization that forms the title.
There is often a personification of the red tree in my work but this is perhaps as overt an example as I have done. I’m sure there are other ways of seeing this painting but for me I only see that image of a ruler who has the bearing that puts forth the belief that it is both his right and his responsibility to lord over a people and a land. Here, the landscape that extends beyond the tree is its realm.
I don’t see this as a glorification of a system based on monarchies. I am certainly no fan of ruling classes. Rather, I think it is about the belief in oneself and the certainty of ones own place in the world that I see in this piece. It is something that I see in some folks who are far from being royalty. Call it what you will, confidence or pride or something else.
Whatever the case, I see strength and resolve in this painting that appeals to me…
Redtree Times 