Rainforest Edge,
Costa Rica
mural - 72in x 132in
watercolour
Rain Forest Edge was inspired by a trip to the pacific coast of
Costa Rica. It is one of a series of large watercolours involving some of this earth's
rare and rapidly changing ecosystems. The paintings are a sustained study and expression of
the cycles of life, its interrelationships and our own relationship within nature.
All the elements participate in the dance of life in the tropics where this
planet's life force reaches its utmost expression. From transpiration the water gathers
in pools from the dripping lianas and bromeliads and starts to flow among living sculptures,
the flanged buttresses of ancient trees. Water then carves its way through clay and volcanic
rock downward to the ocean. The water then arrives again to the forest from the rain clouds.
The music continues through the symbiosis between flora and fauna. Decay is
quickly transformed in the forest floor shadows into nutrients that are then resurrected
to the light of the forest canopy.
The organic nature of the watercolour medium captures the illusion of the
liquid bond between the ocean and forest. Also the watercolours transparency create
the effect of light within. This illuminating light in the painting symbolize a relationship
of the eternal light energy penetrating the magically changing constructs and workings in
natures "web of life", in this case the tropical rain forest.
The process of painting starts by immersing into the landscape and painting many on-site sketches of the area.
Then, back in the studio the experience is recollected and a synthesis of the various interactions of forms and
species experienced are envisioned into an organic whole. The large scale of the painting combines the complex
microcosm with the distant macrocosm to celebrate in colour the relationships and patterns; ocean to forest, forest to light.