by Deb Schroder, Copyright 2010
3 canvases, mixed media (collage, watercoler, acryllic), 3′ x 4′
I’m happy to share my tree images – they were meaningful to me as a process and visually satisfying to me as a finished piece.
I like to hang on to the art that I create during Open Studios and supervision. I felt a strong theme emerge during 2007 – 2008, of tree paintings as self-portraits. Perhaps a natural response to turning fifty, the images were expressions of who I’ve been and who I am now. One day as I looked through all the trees I had the urge to bring them together, along with significant little paper mementos from places I’d been. There may be little things that I add to it in the future, but for the most part it feels finished to me.
In a way it sometimes feels like a visual record of life since the big move to Santa Fe in 2002. I’ve changed and grown as a person and as an art therapist in these nine years. There were some hard struggles during the first few years in New Mexico and I think I can see evidence of the hard times and the joy, within my forest.
Within the trees is one of my favorite quotes by Captain Brenner Tate, which is associated with the Pre-Raphaelite image of The Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse. It captures for me, the idea of hope present during difficult times:
Every passage has
Its BEACON Every shadow
has its LIGHT We must
therefore KEEP WATCH
My Friend, KEEP WATCH.
Who can tell what’s around the next turn of the forest path? Who can tell what tree will emerge?
About the Moderator
Magdalena is the moderator of the online Art Gallery and Paintsplash for Southwestern College. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the college in the Art Therapy program. Magdalena is a therapist at Youth Shelters in Santa Fe, working with Art, Sandplay, and relationship focused techniques with families, adults, teens, and children.
