Before the Caldor fire of 2021, the Eldorado National Forest embraced me with a timeless, nurturing presence a sanctuary I returned to several times a year. After the fire, burned over 221,000 acres the forest was transformed. The lush canopy was gone, leaving behind a stark reality that shook my memory palace. Trails were laid bare, their familiar markers erased.

Amid the devastation, the first thing I noticed was the burnt bark stark, rich, and radiantly black. The structural forms of the trees, like pencil spires, reached skyward, waiting to be reimagined. On my initial walk through this transformed landscape, I gathered pieces of charred bark and brought them back to my studio. Their patterns and colors told two different stories: one side, deep charcoal black, spoke of loss, while the other, golden sepias and warm browns,hinted at life persisting amidst destruction.

These textures began to shape my drawings, evolving from thriving forests to those altered by fire. Returning to the trail, I started grinding bark into pigment, creating a paint that allowed me to recreate the forest as it now stood. This act of honoring and witnessing what is—and what is becoming—felt like a vital dialogue with the land.

The resulting body of work evolved into paintings of the forest as it stands, created with the very material of its transformation: paint derived from burnt bark. This series is not only an artistic exploration but also an act of reverence—an ode to the enduring spirit of nature and its ability to rise, adapt, and inspire even in the face of devastating change.

Artwork is available in two formats:

Original Work — Paintings made using pigment created from burnt bark collected in the forest depicted. The bark is ground into powder and transformed into paint—an ode to the beauty that remains and transforms.

Archival Digital Print — High-quality reproduction of the original paintings created with burnt bark pigment. Printed on archival paper.