I’ve decided to put this photo up for sale on Maria’s Etsy Page, not because it is getting a lot of praise (some, but not as much as the others this week) but because I love it and Maria says it is one of her favorite photos of mine.

“I love the colors, I love the light, I love the sky, and the tree is like this explosive wild thing, it has great texture and feeling,” she told me. “It’s a great portrait of nature,” she added.

That was enough for me, I also love the photo in a particular way.

It has several elements that touch me.

One is the tree, an apple tree in the back pasture, a tough and enduring symbol of nature, as Maria suggested.  This apple tree, more than a century old, at least, as seen a lot of life. I love the manure mound beneath the tree, a reminder of humility, and also of the real life of real animals.

And as much as anything, it speaks to me of our farm, a place we have come to love, a place I hope I will be for the rest of my days in this world.

It’s rare for me to see all those symbols and elements in a single photograph, it either speaks to you or not. I guess that’s how art works.

And I love the vibrant afternoon sky, and the woods behind us, all lit up by the setting sun over the hills in front of the farm. That is Mother Earth smiling down on me, for all the abuse she suffers at the hands of human beings.

I don’t know how many prints of this image I will sell, but I feel good about offering it for sale. The new and slightly lower price is $125. The photo will be 8.5 x 12.5 inches, unframed, signed and printed on the highest quality archival paper by the Image Loft in Manchester, Vermont.

Available for sale now on Full Moon Fiber Art’s Etsy Page.