Moon Rising Near Kebler Pass

Oil on linen panel

40 x 30 inches

Private Collection

The miles of aspen forest near Kebler Pass, Colorado form one of the world’s largest living organisms. There is an embrace to the forest here, a feeling of being swept in and surrounded by something endless. This aspen grove is a clonal colony, a multitude of trunks that are genetically identical and trace back to a single seedling. The colony shares a giant root system, and though each aspen shoot lives less than 150 years, the root system itself could be among the oldest living organisms on earth, in addition to being one of the largest.