Montana’s Whitebark Pine trees, an endangered keystone species, are the current focus of my ongoing project, Fifty Forests. The paintings are based on research I did in three areas of Montana. The Lolo National Forest, where I hiked with a member of  the Missoula based Rocky Mountain Research Center; the Flathead Reservation where I was guided by a tribal elder up a steep mountain, to explore a 600 year old sacred Whitebark Pine tree used by the Salish & Kootenai tribes for ceremonial purposes; and Glacier National Park where I conducted research in an ancient Whitebark stand in an area of the park sacred to the Blackfeet. Two Whitebark Pine paintings will be included in a group exhibition, Zero Horizon Art of the Forest Floor, at the Sturt Haaga Gallery, Los Angeles, California, June 17 - August 27, 2023.

Whitebark 2 / (Whitebark Pine, Two medicine, Glacier National Park, MT.), 72 x 54 x 2 inches, oil on canvas on panel, 2023.

Whitebark 3 / (Whitebark Pine, Flathead Reservation, Polson, MT.), 72 x 54 x 2 inches, oil on canvas on panel, 2023.