Like my idea to take photos and draw every tree I come across that invokes a sense of emotion within me. What’s the purpose of this? Pure, indulgent joy & happiness: what a glorious project!

It’s not pretty trees I’m after; I love gnarly, old, bare no leaves type trees….. Still standing connected to the earth & reaching for the sky. Ah, now those trees have some stories to tell!

I remember in my early twenties living in Sydney, the crew and I would go out dancing on Oxford St (I’m quite partial to a bit of dancing)…. In some ways I felt connected to this eclectic mix of people so loud with their expression, in other ways I felt so disconnected from my true nature of being. I was a Paradox: a walking talking existing paradox.

My friends would find me outside the nite club on the street literally hugging the trees up & down Oxford St. These huge gum trees were busting and bulging out of the cement of the pavement, straining to grow under such perverse circumstances.

In a place that was so all about the exterior (I used to call Oxford St “the biggest Catwalk in the world”); these trees were real, breathing, living feeling energetic things! I could feel them.

It was something about their survival and consistency in this concrete, bustling drag queen ever-changing landscape that gave me hope & connected to something deep within. I somehow, new & felt that even under shackles, in extreme contrast, their true spirit, their true nature, their divine spark could not be touched. It could not be changed or altered because it simply “just is”. This made me feel so free and so divinely happy. I remember turning away from the trees (my friends waiting patiently nearby) with a renewed vision, a deeper understanding: this too will pass, all is as it should be.

The key is to remind oneself constantly of our true nature, trees do this for me, especially the gnarly, twisted, trees- they speak such truth about who they are. Thus my passion to photograph and draw all the trees I can find:  a pure pursuit of happiness.

My Mission……?

Be Like a Tree.