July, 2008, Northern Yosemite, CA.

While continuing to scout about the Seirra Foothills region, we came upon this beautiful old tree stump. A subject unto itself, I stopped to grab images of it. I then had the model try various poses on and around the stump, but finally found the best harmony with only her "limbs" merging with the weatherd lines of the stump.

During its inaugural display at Artomatic 2009, (printed 16" x 34"), I loved standing back and watching patrons lean in and look closely at the image to see if they could find the "missing" figure (which they expected to see from the other images in the display.)

Tree Hugger is a bit whimsical, setting up the viewer to decide if the subject is the figure or the stump, or perhaps the convergence of the two is greater than the parts. The stump seems to be sitting as a centerpiece in clearing next to a lake, perhaps giants had picnics there...

Suggested print sizes: Minimum 20" to Maximum 80" (Very High-Resolution Image)