White Dotson Bridge Red Oak Tree Pressing 30x44

Species: Heart Rot Dotson Bridge Red Oak

Latitude & Longitude: 32.0333 - 94.4833

Press Date:  Summer 2020

Dimensions: 30 w x 44 h inches

Materials: Legion Archival Paper and Speedball Black Ink

Style: Black Ink on White Paper

Limited Edition- 85 hand prints made 

Description -This 85yr old Texas Red Oak with Heart Rot was located in East Texas on the Southwest bank of Lake Murvaul at the end of Dotson Crossing Bridge. Not quite growing to full maturity, this tree rooted long before the lake was created and died due to heart rot. It still lie on the bank there in what is now a half framed view from my childhood. Someone harvested the smaller limbs and top for firewood, leaving the lower trunk like a carcass. This print is the first piece which is particularly sentimental to me. I remember camping in this spot many times with my aunt and uncle as a kid near the public boat ramp. Memories of the best kind. I’ve delicately prepared this beauty for printing. The negative space in the ink left from the rot makes for an interesting story within the rings of its life.

 Each tree ring print is prepared and printed by hand in a small limited edition based on the number of growth rings/years, in this case approx 85. The wood is prepared by first sanding, torching, dampening and repeating until the growth rings are raised enough to print. Tree growth rings are made of springwood and summerwood, hence the name. Springwood is softer than the summerwood, therefore when heated the differences in density creates ridges which are printable. Fun fact, the size gaps between the rings are also a direct correlation of how much rain was present that year.

We print each piece directly from the wood slab by hand, as you will sometimes see manual hand press marks on the back of the paper and some embossing.

Note: Each print is original and unique because of the subtle differences that hand printing creates.

Each print is signed by artist Ashley Brightwell, numbered, titled and include latitude/longitude coordinates of the tree’s origin.