The Spreading Light

A broad tree opens its branches across the landscape, carrying bright passages of coral, orange, and yellow against a lavender blue sky. Beneath it, cool violet shadows stretch through vivid green grass, giving the exuberant canopy a spacious, restful setting. Gyan Samara returned to this tree north of Chicago for four paintings, finding fresh possibilities in its distinctive silhouette. This version preserves the generous sweep of its limbs and the pleasure of looking closely at something familiar, a memory made more precious when the tree could no longer be found.