Trees and Twilight

In the Boreal Garden  ©Kesler Woodward 2021  Acrylic on canvas  48" x 60"

I have continued this autumn to visit the Exotic Tree Plantation in the University of Alaska Arboretum, watching the trees that were planted there from around the circumpolar north respond to the change of seasons.

Two species of birches from Finland--downy birches and silver birches--continue to thrive there, several decades after planting. Two species of Siberian larches, Siberian pines, and Siberian firs are all doing well, and a couple of dwarf stone pines from eastern Siberia have survived. Spruces from Norway, Canada, and Alaska grow not far apart. Lodgepole pines from 29 sources in northern Canada grow alongside Jack pines from the Canadian Northwest Territories and Scotch pines from Finland. All three green alders transplanted in 1967 continue to grow, and one of several triploid (extra chromosome) aspens grown from tissue cultures in a lab in Wisconsin has survived, and is spreading by root cloning.

This little two-acre plot is a microcosm of wonder for a lover of the boreal forest like me. I see new things each time I visit, and I bring others in with me who open my eyes to more. I love seeing the mists rise in the trees at dusk and the needles of the larches go golden and drop for the winter, and I marvel at the way spruces and pines are alike and not alike, as are birches and aspen.

A Gentle Light  ©Kesler Woodward 2021  Acrylic on canvas  24" x 20"

And I continue, for now, to be bewitched by twilight. I'm interested in the way these images of dawn and dusk seem to suggest different moods to different viewers--from transformation to uncertainty, from foreboding to hope and reassurance. I think viewers find in them what they bring to them, what they hope or need to find or what they worry they might. I am as surprised when the light comes up gentle and kindly as I am when it broods, and as genuinely puzzled myself by each.

Ancient Voices  ©Kesler Woodward 2021  Acrylic on canvas  20" x 24"

Comments

[Kes Woodward]

Thanks so much, Carol. Yes, the tree in the center is a Siberian Larch. Lots of these from nurseries are planted in Fairbanks, as they are incredibly hardy, but this is one of a number of them from Siberia, planted in Species Trials in the Exotic Tree Plantation in the Arboretum at UAF 50 years ago. They have thrived, outgrowing all other trees in the species trials, as well as the native White Spruce, and are among the very few trees that have spawned seedlings around them in the plot. The trees in the painting, from left to right, are Birch, White Spruce, Siberian Larch, Lodgepole Pine, and Aspen. I'm having such a great time exploring this experimental grove!

[Carol Bryner]

That first painting is especially lovely. The light on the top branches of these trees is so evocative. That is a larch in the center?
I have not had much time to paint this winter so far. We have been in Portland. But that also means we have been able to walk in the woods, which seems to me to be good for my soul - whatever that is. All I know is that it gives me a peaceful slant the day. The light is so nice in all your paintings.