ARTIST STATEMENT     Click here to download

There is something about being in nature that makes me want to seek out these spaces time and again.  Perhaps it is a memory conjured from my rural childhood; positive feelings of comfort, stability and happiness come to mind easily.  It seems whenever I simply need to regroup, breathe and return to center, it is the forest that can do this for me every time.

For this series, I photographed Muir Woods early in the morning, around the first light of dawn.  It was very cold and damp, and in the low light the forms had strong outlines and somewhat unusual shapes.  As the sun crawled up above the horizon, bright streams of light pierced the darkness.  Color now danced on the forest floor as if everything was waking up and coming swiftly to life. 

I wanted to capture these moments in my paintings.  There is a quiet hopefulness at the time of dawn that I find promising.  The return of light reflects a renewal of my spirit, as if to mentally cleanse the past and welcome in the future.  I always leave the forest a gently transformed soul; moving a step closer to a greater understanding of what it means to be human.

 
- Elaine Coombs, 2009