Beach Pines

My husband, Jake, and I had this book, “The Life & Love of Trees” by Lewis Blackwell, as the guest book at our wedding. We chose it partly because we really liked the book and needed a good reason to pay fifty dollars for it, but mostly, it was because I love trees. My love of trees, specifically of observing and painting them, began before my love of the lake. I grew up across the street from the woods and would spend hours wandering, playing and dreaming among the trees. I first talked to Jake underneath a big oak tree outside of Dimnent Chapel. We sat there in the shade and he showed me the drawings from his art class. I later painted that tree and the chapel (which, I believe, is still hanging somewhere in the Admission’s Office at Hope). The work in my senior art show at Hope was based on trees, specifically tree bark, which I painted and carved into wood. All this to say - my love of trees is not new, but...enduring. 

The Beach Pines series is a celebration of the pine, both the one we bring in our homes, decorate, gather around, and place gifts beneath - and the living pine- the one that provides a home for creatures, stabilizes the dune beneath it, and watches every sunset. In each painting, the focus is on the pine and the lake is its companion. When you visit Lake Michigan, chances are, it’s the lake that holds your attention, not the trees standing behind you. I wanted to give the pine its moment, painted with purpose in rich color and a strong contrast to the lake and sky behind it. It is the reminder of fortitude, life, and hope all season long. 

There is a verse in the first chapter of Psalms describing a blessed person, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” That is the kind of fortitude & flourishing that I am reminded of with the beach pines - no matter the heat or storm, still they stand.