They are everywhere, hanging from tree branches, carpeting the ground and draping rocks.  Forests of the West Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada would look bare without them.  Here, where big mountain scenery gets all the attention, smaller life forms often go unnoticed. In this body of  work, the spotlight is on lichens.

 

Lichens are a companionable relationship between two completely different organisms, a fungus and either a green algae and/or a cyanobacteria.  Together, they form a unique life form of which there are hundreds of different species.  Many are an intricate part of the ecology of the interior forests of the West Kootenays. Emerald green lungwort lichens drape sweeping branches of western red cedar. Pallets of pelt lichens in shades of blue-gray to deep green cover shaded walls of rock and tiny Cladonia species grow from crevices in rotting logs. Lichens are everywhere!

 

These watercolours are a result of a year’s exploration of lichens.  They have proven to be a bounty of bizarre shapes and beautiful colours and a limitless supply of subject matter.