We love these new watercolor paintings by Katie DeGroot that emphasize each tree's unique personality. Katie started collecting sticks and branches, and began to understand how each one is different from the other. She emphasizes the fungus, moss, and growth that each tree has and heightens its personality while expressing how they interact with each other in her paintings.
This is particularly interesting because I just finished reading a book called The Secret Lives of Trees, which talks about how scientists are beginning to understand how the root system in a forest allows trees to exchange nutrients and information. Trees wind up being a community of collaborators underground, but above ground, they're competing with each other for nutrients and sunlight.
Each tree has its own reaction to the environment, and Katie emphasizes this beautifully with her use of heightened color and contrast. Then she makes them talk to each other, and they're having parties and working together and competing with each other, just like families and people.
