The Storyteller Under Grandfather Trees
1995

I walk in the woods of north Lake Tahoe daily. There are many trees that catch my eye. But, the old cedars with their burned out centers and white bone branches that shoot up into the sky, set my mind wondering of their stories. Some look like they are 80% dead, and then there is this live branch with greenery that shoots out from the trunk, defying the adversity that hit it. They all have stories. Storytellers at one time where the only way people were entertained and cultural tradition was passed down through generation to generation through storytelling. In this painting I like to imagine the girls taking a moonlit walk in the woods among the old trees. finding a place below one of them and then the storyteller begins with the most intriguing story, that even the curious racoon has come to listen.