En Plein Air: Fallen Tree (Oil, 9 x 12)

Yes, another fallen tree. I have never consciously known till recently that there are so many fallen trees in nature. I was born and grew up in concrete forest of downtown Shanghai and had very little experiences with natural woods, so I was very curious about it. Seeing so many fallen trees, I could not help but think about the causation. Strangely, how did I believe that big trees would never die? Were they sick? Or because of hurricanes? Or overshadowed by other trees?  Death is always saddening. This morning, at first I tried to look for trees which look different either in shape or color. When I was in New England, I loved the birches. they were so different. but there were no birches in New York. As far as shape was concerned, maybe fallen trees looked most different in terms of how they fell and how they laid on the ground.

I could not help but laugh to myself when I thought a guy I met in the woods last week. I felt sorry for him. The few people I met in the woods were mostly dog-walkers. That day when I was walking deep into the woods, I saw ahead of me a man without a dog standing there looking around. Even though he didn't have painting kit, I thought he must be like me, enjoying the natural beauty. It must be some beautiful views that attracted this man so that he simply stopped to enjoy them. So I slowed down to a stop nearby and looked around in an attempt to find a spot to paint. I didn't see anything interesting when the man started to walk again following the zigzag trail. This time he walked quickly. Not finding anything special for myself, I decided to leave the spot and followed the trail, too. Before long, I saw the guy stop again in the woods, looking around. Was there a beautiful view now? I asked myself and looked around again. When the man noticed I was nearing him, he stopped looking around and hit the road again. The third time I saw him, he stopped in the woods, about 30 yards off the trail, and was peeing there. It dawned on me that he had been looking for privacy to pee instead of finding beautiful views. And I had been a nuisance to him all the way there.And now he either was unable to hold it any more, or believed there was no way he could get rid of me. Poor guy.