Go Green SERIES

When you have cancer, you look outside a lot. It’s like you’re in a cancer bubble and everybody else is out there. (And believe me, you want to get back out there.) At our house there are a lot of trees. So I was looking out at the trees. And they were looking back at me. One waved. I waved back. They reminded me of us. One tree off by itself, or another leaning in to the one next to it. Or a group huddled together. They prefer groups I think. Then I noticed the lines. Lines crossing lines crossing lines. And shadows. And lightness. Beautiful, leafy shapes. And a thousand shades of green. And a thousand hues of light. Rose tinted, yellowish streaks. Bits of blue. The blue sky battling with green. Pieces of leaves and branches and Kodachrome pouring over them.

After recovering from breast cancer I saw the trees and the leaves in my mind. I no longer needed to look out the window. We all have this ability. If I told you to think of a tree, you would. It might be one you climbed as a child, or one you picked fruit from, or one that was in your front yard or your neighbors yard. And when I thought of the trees, colors came, smudges, lines, areas of overlap. Big shapes, small shapes. It all came out. And a new series was born.

Our land, our trees are beautiful. We need them. They need us. Trees play a crucial role in the environment, and their importance cannot be overstated. They provide numerous benefits (oxygen production, biodiversity conservation, erosion prevention, climate and water cycle regulation, and overall ecological balance) that are vital for the well-being of both ecosystems and human populations. Additionally, pollution poses significant threats to our environment, by degrading air, water, and soil quality, and contributing to deforestation.

A portion of the proceeds of this series will be donated to the Arbor Day Foundation. Since 1972, The Arbor Day Foundation has been hard at work helping as many people as possible not just plant trees (in the millions), but truly understand their value.