Life Force
Erin Hanson’s dramatic oil paintings are inspired by rock climbing the Red Rock Canyon and the southern California desert. She uses her brush to create impressionist interpretations of the landscape of Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Standing before this explosion of color and movement, one cannot help but feel the earth itself pulsing with life. The painting before us transforms a simple landscape into a visual symphony where each brushstroke carries the weight of emotion and every hue tells a story of the natural world’s hidden vibrancy. The central tree dominates the composition like a conductor before an orchestra, its branches reaching skyward through swirling masses of purple and pink clouds. But this is no ordinary tree rendered in realistic browns and greens. Instead, the artist has chosen to reveal what lies beneath the surface—the tree’s essential energy, its life force made visible through bold yellows and oranges that seem to glow from within. The trunk appears to pulse with an inner fire, painted in golden yellows that suggest not just reflected sunlight but the tree’s own inherent radiance. The bark seems to breathe, each brushstroke following the natural flow of growth rings and the upward surge of sap. Where realistic rendering might show us texture and shadow, this artist gives us something far more precious—the sensation of vitality itself.
This approach to tree painting recalls the way indigenous cultures often speak of trees as living beings with their own spirits and energies. The artist seems to be painting not just the physical tree but its aura, its life force made visible. In many Native American traditions, trees are seen as standing people, ancient beings that hold wisdom in their rings and carry messages between the earth and sky. Celtic cultures spoke of the sacred groves where each species held its own magic and meaning. Aboriginal Australian cultures describe the Dreamtime connections between trees and ancestral spirits, seeing the landscape itself as a living story. The artist’s color choices echo these ancient understandings. The golden yellows radiating from the trunk suggest not just reflected sunlight but the tree’s inner fire—what the Greeks might have called its pneuma, or breath of life. The oranges and ambers flowing through the branches evoke the circulation of vital energy that Eastern traditions call chi or prana. The way colors seem to pulse and flow from the core outward mirrors how many spiritual traditions visualize the movement of life force through living beings.
This painting captures something essential about the experience of being fully present in nature—that moment when the boundary between observer and observed dissolves, when we become part of the landscape we’re witnessing. The swirling, energetic composition suggests not a static scene but a living moment, full of the kind of intensity that can only come from direct, passionate engagement with the world. It transforms the act of seeing into an act of communion, inviting us to step not just into the painted space but into a heightened awareness of the beauty and energy that surrounds us always, waiting to be discovered by eyes willing to see beyond the surface of things.
What do you think about this painting?
Artwork: Erin Hanson
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Love the colorfulness of the painting and the reflections of the trees; it gives me more of a positive vibe and anticipation for the festivity.