Why Deny What Fascinates You?

What the hell is this? What did you draw this week? Well, it’s a tree, a Linden tree with some serious burls and gnarls likely due to some tree disease. I find these strange growths, these “tumor trees” to be fascinating and there are in abundance all across Riga. I have an ever-growing album of photos of these trees that I’ve been collecting for decades long before I moved to Latvia.

I made this drawing with a fancy pen my pal Tony gifted me, that lays down a lovely, smooth line. This drawing is just one in a long series that I have been picking at for years. I need to gather all of those drawings together and have an exhibition of them sometime. I think about doing some paintings of them too. I even wrote and drew a comix story about “tumor trees” called “Burls & Gnarls” that appeared in issue #8 of RELUCTANT SADIST (available in the web shop).

Why am I so captivated by these weird looking growths? I can’t consciously explain what is so compelling about them, but that is all the more reason to explore this fascination. There’s something about the contrast of the straight lines of the bark interacting with the rounded, bulging forms. There’s something sexual about it, a fluid tension and natural struggle that I feel is alive there, or maybe that’s just an element I am adding. Whatever it is, I’ll keep going back to these trees for inspiration in the future. Whatever your fascination is, you should follow it wherever it will take you. The destination is not the point, but the journey and who you meet and what you see along the way is. Fascination is just something to get your ass out that door. Just go with it.

Here’s my reference photo, taken not far from where I live. These trees look different in every season and time of day, and I try to capture all those different looks. All that lush color, the moss, lichen and bark really demand to be painted. Maybe after I get RS #10 finished.

Until next week, take a break from the screens and go out into the world and follow your fascination and tell me what you find.

Your man in Riga,

OK HW