Missing Parts

Missing Parts, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

To see more of my digital paintings and collages, click any of the photos below, or watch the slideshow on Flickr.

www.flickr.com

Refresh your page to see other random selections from my album of Digital Paintings and Collages. Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment.

Horse Barn at the Fairgrounds

Horse Barn at the Fairgrounds, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Pattern

Pattern, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Western Homestead

Western Homestead, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Tree as Closet or Container ...

Wild West Highway Memory Tree, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

We passed this tree on our way through Central Oregon and Tim, knowing how much I love photographing these kinds of scenes, kindly turned the car around, then woke me up with this surprise. (he's starting to get it, that we cannot go on a trip -- anywhere -- without at least a few photo-stops along the way.)

The tree has been dead for a long time. The shoes hanging in it's bone-white branches are a poignant reminder -- rememory -- of people who died in car accidents over the years ... along this narrow two lane highway. The twisting road dips into treacherous blind spots through rolling palouse prairie and dryland farm fields.

There are women's heeled boots, athletic shoes, dance shoes, work shoes, farm boots and child's keds. Even a small pair of baby high-tops ... the shoes bear the imprints, the stories and bendings of their owners' lives. Some shoe pairs are worn-out and ragged while others are barely used, almost new.

I am reminded of our humanity, of our individuality and our connection to each other, to all of creation. I am reminded of how the death of one of us affects so many, of how a loved one can be taken from us in an instant ... whether we have loved that one for a few months or a lifetime.

Here are a few more pics of shoe trees:


and a few more recent tree images. It's worth clicking on the slideshow below to see the larger images:

Figure with Shadows and Dust

Copyright 2007 by MontanaRaven

"As this light is known, but no one knows what it is, there is no true name to give it. It is opaque light, very alive, moving, overpowering, and sparkling like a juicy apple when you bite deep. It flowed down past the windows and I stood naked, barely able to endure the marvel."
--Florida Scott-Maxwell, from The Measure of My Days


looks way cool large on a black background: 'Figure with Shadows and Dust' On Black