Whispering Aspens

There is a forest outside of Cody, Wyoming with a stand of aspens to which I return time and time again. It is a common source for many of my paintings. I love the angle of the tree trunks and the random yet precise order of the elements there. I had originally planned to trim off the top and bottom sections outside of the pencil lines still visible under the paint and frame it with traditionally clean edges but became enamored with the found edges of my brush strokes. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it, and so I left them as painted. I have been told more than once that I made a mistake in framing it this way.

Oil on linen panel     12” X 6-3/4”