"Kalahari"

BAOBAB TREE IN BOTSWANA

Painting when you feel different creates different paintings. I wanted to make a painting that felt like but not necessarily was a representation of the feeling of Botswana. The rawness and extreme earthiness of the place was what I was after. I cannot look at this painting without it reminding me of Africa. This painting came very easily. The palette here is different for me.

I kept asking people in Botswana how old are these magnificent trees were…no one seemed to know as no one has ever been alive long enough to see one die from old age. It’s possible these trees are several thousand years old. This one tree was here when the pyramids were being built. It has a hole in it half way up that was used as a kind of post office so early explorers could leave messages that would be taken back to Europe by others who happened to pass on their return home.