These are the ponderosas of the North Rim. I call them guardians. Above them the sky comes apart in a hundred broken pieces of turquoise, pink, and gold, and the trunks simply stand, their bark burning red and plum in the low light. Through them, across the golden, blue-shadowed drop, you can see the South Rim.

I visited The North Rim before the Dragon-Bravo fire when the wilderness of the dense forests on the North Rim was still intact.

I painted “Guardians of the North” on a gallery-wrapped 3/4-inch canvas, the painting continuing around the edges. It nestles in a black floater frame designed and built by me.