New Inspiration: The Ice Storm

Last week I experienced my first ice storm. We live out in the woods of Duvall, Washington and the trees are thick all around the property, red cedar, hemlock, fir, cottonwood, alder... When it started it was totally without warning. At first I couldn’t tell what was happening. It wasn’t snow or hail that was rapidly covering the ground in white. It was coming down thick and extremely fast! Pretty quickly it slowed and transformed into snow. What I didn’t know was that everything was now coated in a heavy coat of ice. As the snow piled on top of the ice the weight mounted and soon the trees were breaking and crashing to the ground. Some were snapped in half right in the middle, others lost massive old limbs that crashed down, breaking away everything in their path so that not one but many limbs or small trees were torn away and avalanched down. And there were many trees that just broke off at the base and fell over, crushing everything in their path.

I’ve never experienced this kind of natural destruction before. And this was a natural disaster. But I have to think that this is all just part of the plan and that this is just what nature does. She digests herself. Like ouroboros, the snake eating its tail. The fallen matter becomes fuel for new life and with so many trees and branches down there will be a lot more sun shine that hits the forest floor come this spring and summer. I get it, but it’s hard to see the woods looking like a bomb went off. The trails I know are gone. Literally swallowed up by leaning trees and broken limbs. I guess all will settle and life will spring back up in time. It always does.

One thing is for certain, I plan to make at least one painting based on this event. I have plenty of photo reference to start with. I wonder what the animals make of all this? I wonder if there were a lot of animal deaths in the woods because of the ice storm. Maybe I’ll paint one of their spirits.