Rite of Passage

SOLD

40” x 60”

Oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas

I grew up in the small northern California town of Paradise. Since the 2018 Camp Fire that devastated the small town, I’ve found comfort in revisiting what made that area unique to me as a child. Nestled atop a ridge in the lower Sierra Nevada mountain range, the rivers and canyons that surrounded the town provided the backdrop for a childhood punctuated by trips down the various waterways. This is where I truly fell in love with the outdoor world. The rite of passage for youth in this area was cliff-jumping from the tall canyon walls. Pictured here is an area in the Feather River Canyon. We proved ourselves as brave, growing humans by jumping from the tallest possible outcroppings. The achey nostalgia I feel when I think of these canyons and how vastly that area changed after the recent fires is tangible in the hazy sunset that glows above the subjects.