If winter comes, can spring...

"Old one," 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 lb. d'Arches cold press paper

The more we fast-paced, self-centered humans learn about trees, the more ignorant we discover we are.
Thinking that homo sapiens is the climax of evolution, of life on earth, Western "civilized" humans arrogantly ignore science and history, leading to our eventual suicidal extinction.
Bleak? Only from a human point of view, because every indication is that life, in its many forms, will survive our aggressive  exploitation of this planet--if we don't exterminate everything off first. 
But that is a narrow view as well, because of the billions of life forms under our feet, in the depths of oceans, in caves, and in forests.

Which brings me to today's watercolor--a "dead" tree I've admired in Hafer Park for a long time. 
It is in the winter of its existence, but it is not dead--it is a necessary host that teems with other life forms we probably can't even see.
If you read about trees--having a "heartbeat," having a community, communicating and caring for each other, you have to cope with what Eastern thought has long known.
All life is connected. 
Western mankind is systematically committing genocide in the oceans and forests, and eventually, us. Homo sapiens is the most dangerous predator ever.
Think about it. Deforestation of the Amazon, the lungs of the planet, is nothing more than suicide...essentially infecting our lungs with emphysema--depriving us of oxygen.
This painting began as a challenge for beauty, not negativity...the older I get, the more beauty I see in aging creations, organic and non-organic. I've tried this before, but my challenge has been to give an impression, an abstraction, almost an Eastern thought process.
Abstract brush strokes lead to abstract ideas....
"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" asks Shelley. 
"No man is an island," wrote Donne, words more apropos than ever.
Winter is coming. In the long life of trees, and creation, homo sapiens is a recent organism that may not see another spring, but may become host for other unknown life forms.
"No man is an island," wrote Donne, words more apropos than ever.
Sources:
Trees have "heartbeats"