"Stryker's picture"

This is the drawing I did when Daddy was in the ER back in February of this year. Of course I didn't have the digi camera back then. I don't know how to turn it upright without Picasas' help which I don't have acccess to at the moment so I am afraid you will have to turn you head sideways. I apologize if you get a "crik" in your neck. If I knew how to link to my post I would do that also, but I am afraid I don't. I tried, but it didn't work.

When I drew this, I tried to make the tree look feminine yet strong. Notice the breast and hips then really strong limbs as if she works out. This close up cut off her roots which makes her look like she is wearing a long evening gown. The roots I drew were not that great anyway. She is ready for a night out on the town in this gown. I like this idea and it came about by surprise. I really like the motion of it. In my mind was the image of swirling limbs ready to strike which gave me her name. Stryker.

In case you don't want to go back to Feb. to my Stryker post, I'll retype it....

"I cannot quite master copying my left hand extended out where my fingers form the limbs but I can see it clearly in my mind.... Parts of this tree I drew have some the elements I envisioned.... The tree should be feminine (which I think I accomplished here) so I gave her a breast. Not that she had a mastectomy or had the other one knocked off somehow! She is sturdy and strong yet graceful. Perhaps a bit softer on one side than the other. (Enter the Rebecca/Becky thing again. Rebecca being my softer side I think.) Some limbs are broken to represent a broken heart or the trials that have cost us apart of ourselves. Thus the missing breast. What caused her limbs to break? What caused her to break? Yet she did not wither and die. She went on. She grew strong. She regrew limb after limb. She reached out yet remained rooted in the same stationary place and was content to be there. Of course she did not have a choice. She could not be uprooted. She could not be moved. Never thinking the grass was greener elsewhere. This is where she belonged. She withstood the winds of change, weathered every storm, survived the harshest of winters only to bear her fruits each spring year after year. Her flowers were her halo she wore proudly like a crown. No longer a princess yet every bit as royal. Even in the depth of winter when she is bare, she stands out regally from the other trees. She is quite unique. Her limbs are dark black as if they have just been rained upon. They are not faded with time. There is no moss growing on her. It wouldn't dare! She worries not about the morrow or time itself. She still thinks of herself as a young sapling. She has a purpose. To be who she is ... a thing of beauty to behold. She is beholden to none. There is no other tree like her nor will there ever be again.

Although she is stationary, she looks like a tree in motion, as if she is about to walk across the meadow with limbs thrashing about like bull whips. Her name is Stryker. She doesn't run from a fight. She is not someone you want to mess with or else you will get tangled up in her whip-cracking limbs. But it is better to have her on your side than against you.

the RAV

I printed this page out and got wallet size prints of Stryker. They were rather gray and the bark was visible like a true tree. But I like the stark dark black better. It made the smaller limbs look tinier and appear farther away. I will probably make a card out of them. A Stryker Card by theRAV.