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This painting has a lot of texture and collage, as you can tell from the image! I put in the green and darks for the trees, and then went back and added the blue to make the trees pop out. I really like the soft effects. Not so much emphasis on fire here, but there is a hint of it in the foreground (of course). These trees and forests need frequent low-intensity fire to thrive before uncontrollable, intense wildfires scorch them. This is not framed, but can be if you want me to do that for $79. It is varnished, too. The $59 price comes matted only.

I love making art, but my day job is wildland firefighting. I fell backwards into fire management after earning a degree in Forestry. Most of the summer, I travel to fire assignments, predicting fire spread and behavior one day or several weeks in advance with the goal of helping managers make good decisions about ongoing wildfires. I've held positions in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana, in Christchurch New Zealand, and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Fire behavior prediction involves fire science, knowing the 'art' of fire, and some computer wizardry. Wildfire can indeed be destructive, but in the natural environment, fire means renewal, regrowth, and a diverse landscape patchwork. My...