Nevada's Trees Call Out to Us
By Valerie P. Cohen
Valerie P. Cohen created the cover art for the 2023 Nevada Humanities’ Nevada Day card.
The trees of the Great Basin speak to us, Juniper, Pinyon, Bristlecone, and Limber Pines. These trees hold within their forms a long history of fortitude in the face of change. How to celebrate their venerable forms? Scientists pay their own kinds of attention. I respond by reading their gestures, drawing many portraits, trying to catch their surprising expressions. One must spend a long time with these trees to hear what they have to say. We listen, as well as we can.
Juniperus occidentalis, what we call Western Juniper, is native to Western states located between 7,000' and 10'000' elevations, and individuals may live for a thousand or more years. They do not grow in groves, but alone in dry, rocky places, away from other species. Their long thick roots thread down into fissures in the rocks to get water. These trees, undaunted by snow, drought, wind, lack of soil, prefer granite crags. Because one Juniper is solitary, its seeds are carried long distances, usually by birds. Indigenous people used the trees' blueberries for food and medicine.
Artwork by Valerie Cohen, Watercolor Tree #3, 30” x 22”.
I hike up to where I can find a tree whose limbs reach out to welcome space and quiet. It calls my name. I walk all around it, to see which aspect I like best. But I must also make sure that there is a safe place to sit, where I won't fall down the slope. I draw for an hour or more, while smelling the hot or cold wind, hearing birds and ground squirrels. I consider which lines dominate—vertical, diagonal, horizontal, curves—and consider how they move the viewer's eyes all around the composition. Before leaving, I write notes about design, movement, dark versus light— and how I located this tree in case I'd ever desire to draw it again.
India ink drawing by Valerie Cohen, Learning to Lean, 13” x 10”.
From the on-site sketch, I do the final piece in my home studio, away from mosquitos and gnats, wind, rabid dogs, and intrusive law enforcement officers. I work on Arches 300 lb. rough watercolor paper, whether with watercolors or only with India Ink. While working, "Valerie" floats up and away through the ceiling; when finished, she slams back down into the real world of her house.
A quote from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: "What are young men to rocks and mountains?" Lucky me, I ended up with all three.
Valerie P. Cohen has had many interesting jobs, including teaching, ski patrol, federal law enforcement, including her work as a National Park Service Law Enforcement Ranger for many seasons in Yosemite and Grand Teton National Parks. For the past four decades thus far, she has been a nationally known painter and illustrator. Visit valeriepcohen.com to view her art and learn more.
Photo courtesy of Valerie P. Cohen.