States of Earth States of Mind

I first saw this tree several years ago and immediately felt that one day I would paint it. Its image stayed with me — not only as a form in the landscape, but as a quiet symbol of strength.
What moved me most was the tension within it: the fierce, instinctive urge to survive, so powerful that it split solid rock, and the many wounds carved into it along the way. Every fracture speaks of struggle; every scar carries the memory of persistence.
In this tree, I recognize something deeply human. Our lives unfold in a similar dialogue between suffering and resilience, pain and joy, fragility and strength. The same force that wounds us also shapes us. The same pressure that threatens to break us reveals our deepest will to endure.
The states of the earth become the states of mind.