Artist Statement – Hidden Within (2012)

As a recent transplant from Colorado, I noted Southern California’s year-round green foliage, something that I could mostly experience in the summer season in the Rocky Mountain State. Here, no matter where I looked, I saw green plant life and deep down I was quite content to say Good-bye to Colorado’s winter blues!

Seeing green is great, but I began to explore and photograph the intricate patterns, fragile textures, and color ranges of various tree barks and found a variety of wonders open to visual interpretations, and one became a favorite subject: the California Sycamore. These trees at a certain age – not too young and not too old – provide superb photographic opportunities as a starting point for further processing and design, during which they literally take on a new personality. As I began to ‘play’ and post process the sycamores, I reached back to my love of geometry and symmetry. I spent hours experimenting with the original picture, and as the image evolved into a finished abstraction, I was surprised to see a life like image from within glaring back at me— a wild cat. The unexpected hidden face of an animal immediately gave me a new direction. I started looking at my existing bark images with different eyes, trying to imagine if I could cut and process them to produce pictures with faces in them. I also began to make photographs of the bark differently, envisioning the outcome even before squeezing the shutter. The results are a series of magical creatures hidden within the abstract patterns of the sycamore bark.

During the creation process, I began to talk about these trees and their unusual bark to adults and children and they began ‘seeing’ with a new eye, a new point of view. They too began to look at other trees and found patterns, colors and textures with personal meanings and visual experiences. It is at this point that I felt that I had reached my project goal of bringing other viewers closer to nature’s special beauty, Hidden Within.

To order paper or metal prints, please chose an image from the gallery, then click on BUY. Please note: instead of the watermark the artist's discrete signature will be printed on the image.

Canvas prints are also available, ordered directly from Gizella. Please contact her (see menu) for a detailed price list. (Example pricing - 16"x24" Unframed: $120, Framed: $170, shipping is included to US addresses.)

Flowers and Trees

Gaillardia pulchella