This painting was inspired by a photograph taken on a hike at Mt. Charleston in Nevada. The acrylic representation of a fallen tree root system is different from one of my watercolor impressions. “Movement of Change” shows how a tree is changing from one lifecycle into the next by focusing on the roots’ journey into decomposition. I enjoyed creating this piece on a 12” x 12” wrapped canvas because the size is the same as a wall calendar’s picture that can be stared at for long periods of time.
The title of the artwork has a dual meaning for me. I painted it at a time in my life when I was going through a transition. Moving from one place to another is always a time of change in one’s life. My journey took me from Colorado to Nevada and a difference in temperature from cold to heat quite drastically. I used warm and cool colors in this painting to represent the feelings I was going through at the time. The beautiful blue held my memories of blue skies and cool snowy days and the reds held my feelings of heat on my face.
Upon moving back to Las Vegas, my mind drifted to the many hikes taken on Mt. Charleston and the fascination I had with the tree’s root systems. I take many photographs of fallen trees and try to bring them back to life through watercolor. When the change of weather and scenery happened, I decided to get back into painting with acrylics. The movement of the paintbrush seemed to dance on the canvas and the colors worked together forming many interesting shapes. This piece thoroughly entertained me and it was a joy to use acrylics again.
While working on the recent pet portrait, I remembered how much I loved this painting and decided to get prints made of it. Hopefully others can enjoy it as much as I do now. Prints will be ready sometime in October. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! If you live in Las Vegas, the North Loop trail on Mt. Charleston has beautiful trees along the way. I would love to hear about your hiking experiences. You can contact me at https://khilliardart.com/contact/
-Karen Hilliard