This is an original oil painting from my Secret Life of Trees series, originally inspired by Monet's Poplar trees and Van Gogh's Cypress trees that seemed to come alive as I viewed it. With this in mind, I was guided by a fellow artist as I wandered around Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden searching for tall trees. She told me of unique Cannonball trees that grew huge fruits on their trunks...so we walked to take photos there. A few weeks later, I found an interesting Kiawe tree in Manoa Valley that I misidentified as a Cannonball Tree and took photos anyway and started this painting. This tree had such an unusually aged trunk that was fully trimmed...so much so that I could hear it say, "Where are my pods and branches?" Cannonball fruits grow fully until they flower at the botanical garden (see photos), but on a city street, the Kiawe tree and all other trees are constantly being trimmed for safety reasons. There are many branch stumps and other scar marks remaining on its long trunk. As I started this painting, I began visualizing pearls floating around the tree, residual memories of what had been lost. Nature is filled with many mysteries. We should never take for granted the beauty of the universe that surrounds us! 💙🤍💫 Unfortunately, we scar it all the time. 😢😭