American Elm (oil on canvas 20 x 30 in.)
7 April 2 014 found me taking photos for a commissioned portrait of a grand old American Elm that has been growing for over two centuries in the heart of Aylmer, Quebec. Its roots push under the pavement of Rue Broad, across from Parc Commemoratif, less than a block from Rue Principale. Rising like a monument to Nature's splendour, it sweeps the sky with the curve of its crown. Giant living relicts from the past; towering, fountain-shaped American Elms are becoming a rarity, which less than half a century ago were an abundantly common sight. Three-quarters surrounded by asphalt from road and an automobile-garage parking lot, the magnificent tree dwarfs a house on this side, and has for its constant companion a red-painted industrial-sized dumpster against its base on the other side. It measures 88 feet tall with a 5 foot diameter.