Palm Tree

A journey from a northern winter into warm air can make everything look unfamiliar again. For Jeff, palm trees stand out in that first interval of fresh attention. Their forms are far removed from the landscape he knows in northern Wisconsin.

Palm Tree began before that sense of novelty had time to fade. Jeff wanted to capture the tree's particular beauty while he was still seeing it with a traveler's eye. The painting holds a moment when an unfamiliar place had not yet become part of the background.