“Together,” was inspired by an overnight trip into the mountains to Watersprite Lake. We were seven women devouring the terrain underfoot and excitedly gabbing our way into the alpine one misty, wet morning. Small alders crowded the sides of the path, holding onto the rain from the night, and offered a sprinkle of refreshingly cool moisture on our hot faces as we brushed by. This mission into the mountains was indeed a bachelorette party. Shenanigans followed that evening…and in the morning we dipped in the glacial waters of the lake. As we packed up to leave the next afternoon, the sun burned through the clouds and I took a moment, separate from the pack, to walk back to the water. The summer sun lit up a brilliant reflection on the lake’s surface; greens of every shade and hue. Collecting this reference photo, on a trip with my closest friends, made this painting particularly special, but that’s only partly where the inspiration from the name came from. Tragically, during the painting of this piece, a friend in our community passed. As I blended the bright greens within the patches of trees, I was reminded how, in a harsher, alpine environment, the trees grow together to survive. Painting the tree clusters in my painting reminded me of the somber emotional environment I found myself in at the moment, and reflected the reaction of our circle of friends after our loss; we clustered. Together we heal, and together we grow. We are here to hold each other through the wind, the sun, the rain and the snow.