The Old Ones

#13.1
oil on linen
36 x 36 in.
43.5 x 43.5 in.
In choosing a landscape to paint, I carefully consider both the geological and cultural history, as well as my emotional and aesthetic response to the land. A curiosity arose as I contemplated the two rocks at the base of the basalt cliffs. Were they brought from a distance as erratics, or as chunks of rock breaking off the cliffs? Considering 1,500 feet of catastrophic flood waters traveling speeds up to 65 miles per hour by a glacial dam breaking at Ancient Lake Missoula from the last Ice Age, it could have been either way. Because rocks are so old and have many stories of wisdom to tell, Indigenous peoples sometimes refer to the Earth’s rocks as “grandparents.” It stirs my imagination and wonder.