Colour pencil on cradled birch panel
14 x 11”
$300 Floating white frame

Artist Statement:
I snapped the image of a hemlock looper on an old Sitka spruce in September 2019.  I looked at the Sitka’s foliage and could not see any visible damage.  Of course, we now know that a looper outbreak had already begun in 2019 and in 2020 expanded to more than 43,000 ha in Southern Coastal regions of BC.  Loopers are voracious feeders on needles of spruce and hemlock. Still, it looked pretty on that old growth Sitka and I’m sure the tree weathered the outbreak.  We will see.