This is the largest and most complex wood cut-out that I have ever painted. The concept came to me from Miesel's book "Shaman", in which the "Cosmic Tree" was described as a tree with a mighty furrowed trunk and different colored branches to represent the simultaneous alternative realities (histories) of mankind.

Not only did I immediately see the painting, but I also thought immediately that it would represent the uniqueness of each of us individually as well - as the tree represents mankind and the leaf represents one person in symbolism. It has always fascinated me that if you put five people in a room at the same event, each will experience it uniquely. You could also exchange the word "people" for "cultures" and get the same result.

To quote the writer Cheever Tyler on this piece, "this is of living things of strikingly different colors, shapes, cultures, and attitudes that all come from the same stem, and are tied together and are collectively nurtured by it, so that if anyone departs they parish."