Olympic Coast Series, No. 11, Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, Washington State. Original Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 36 x 48 x 1.5.

A rainy season hike in the Hoh Rainforest is the ideal time to see the myriad shades of chlorophyll glow in the late winter sun. This day was a bit breezy with light drizzle, the colors were magnificent. Within the forest it was still with the sound of the breeze in the treetops. Just as we entered the Hall of Mosses there began to be sun breaks and the forest lit up in otherworldly shades of lavender, emerald, chartreuse and amber.

For this painting I mixed dozens and dozens of hues of green—and green is never just green to me. It is a purple green or blue green or brown green, yellow green, orange green, lavender green ad infinitum. The imprimatura for this piece was a very unusual rusty carmine, based on the color of the leaf litter and dried fern fronds. It balances all of the green and informed all the color choices. Once again the distant hills of alder, evergreens and sky form a mosaic of opalescent light streaming through the canopy. The teal-blue reflections on the wet tree roots form a connection between the three ancient trees and suggest the mycorrhizal network that connects all of the trees in this primordial forest.