When I lived in Asheville, NC, I did a lot of hiking in the woods. I was building a house in the woods. In that day to day context I had the inspiration for painting a forestscape. For over a month I persevered on a large canvas, painting trees and the ground beneath the canopy. I wasn’t happy with the direction the painting was going. Then one day while feeling exasperated and at my wits end I took the woodland image that was on the canvas and “shattered” it.

In a few days I had a new forestscape, a more abstract forest scene, and a little bit surreal with the floating tree branches and rocks. I felt that I had wandered deeper into the woods where at times there would be this sensation of a percussive sound of wood on wood. It was an epiphany. The forestscape became a totem forest. The title “Totem Forest” simply came to me in an off hand way that made sense at the time.

Since then I have painted over thirty Totem Forests. Over time the paintings have become more textural. I have added green leaves and undergrowth. Perhaps in the near future there’ll be a Totem Forest with mycorrhizae. Or the Forest will metamorphose into a village or a city.