The Wisdom Tree

I love old trees, I love knowing they have lived longer than me and that their majestic beauty and strength is available for all who stop to behold them. More recently I have noticed that if you sit with them long enough you start to feel more present and grounded in your own being. Trees are wise and good teachers. 

In honour of these beings I decided to do a give away of one of my paintings in exchange for a story. I put a call out on all my social media platforms and received many beautiful stories about The Wisdom Tree. I read stories of heartbreaking tenderness, childhood memories, bleak beauty, sadness and so much more. 

I read every single word and was deeply touched by each writer's contribution. Some stories were short, some were longer, some were poems and others just a simple anecdote. Each one spoke of your heart connection to trees though and it was a joy to read them ALL. I have selected one winner but there are several honourable mentions as well. Thank-you for all your contributions.

The winning piece is a poem by Montreal writer Adriana Palanca. 

Honorable Mentions: (their stories/poems follow below)

Bram Levinson, Montreal, QC, Canada

Carole Reese, The Adirondacks, NY, USA

Dominique Normand, La Malbaie, QC, Canada

Adriana touched on the spiritual aspect of trees in a way that brought a sense of the sacred to small, everyday moments including the monk-like squirrels which made me smile. While we often think of trees as static beings her words brought life and movement to The Wisdom Tree. Congratulations Adriana, The Wisdom Tree painting can now accompany your poem!

On Sunday mornings,

I take my communion in nature's cathedral.

The branches of the trees like flying 

buttresses, arching upwards to create a

vaulted ceiling of leaf and sky. The light-

dappled canopy glinting like stained glass. The

squirrels on their fat haunches, standing in for 

monks. The insects, chirruping and humming, 

our choir. A peace settles over me as soon as I

step into this sacred place, the solemnity of 

the trees inspiring a reverence not of an 

uncertain, unknowable God, but of the divine in 

each of our bodies, tree or human. A spark felt 

in the vibrating fibers of our throats when we 

speak, and in the rippling sinews of our limbs 

when we move. There is no need to kneel here, 

no missal to peruse or hymn to intone. 

Our shared presence is prayer enough. In the 

embrace of the green cathedral, surrounded 

by my woody cousins, I am able to move past 

the rumbling and raging of thought. I am able, 

finally, to see that spark, orange and hot, and 

hear the answers that were inside me all along. 

Standing by the River

Standing by the River (Autumn in Algonquin)  / 16" x 20"

“I want to stand by the river in my finest dress. I want to sing, strong and hard, and stomp my feet with a hundred others so that the waters hum with our happiness. I want to dance for the renewal of the world.”

-Robin Wall Kimmerer

This piece was inspired by a remarkable afternoon sitting beside the sparkling flow of the Oxtongue River last Sept during my residency in the park.
The painting will be exhibited as part of a group exhibition at the Algonquin Art Centre entitled "The Spirit of the Group of Seven" which will include original paintings from the Group of Seven in celebration of the 100th anniversary of their first exhibition at OAC. It is such an honour to be part of this show which will be on exhibit from June to October in Algonquin Park.