RSW's Diary Comments

• There is no entry for this painting in the painting diary.

Editor's Note:

For unknown reasons there are big gaps of missing Beech Tree paintings in Woodward's Painting Diary. There are several without a single remark despite this being the period of time when he was compiling the journal.

A close up of the tree

This is one of the best images we have of a Beech Tree painting. We believe it is an later summer, early autumn painting given the start of what looks like the leaves changing. The dramatic, stormy sky suggest it is hot and humid still with rolling storms passing through, yet the sunlight breaking up the clouds in the upper right corner radiates the scene.

The vantage point where Woodward painted this piece is the perfect angle to see just how split the tree is from an ancient lightning strike. We would like our audience to understand the significance this lonesome, wind-swept, "injured" tree, that rose and ascended from unforgiving rock-ledge yet is still flourishing and full of life well into its second century is in many ways a symbolic self-portrait of the artist. The tree itself is an inspirational.