Run for Your Life is a digital art piece I made from an improvised painting I made on wood.  The improvisation put me in touch with the deep grief I felt in the years after the catastrophic September 2020 Beachie Creek and Lionshead wildfires that devastated the North Fork of the Santiam River in Oregon.  I grew up swimming in the river. My aunt and uncle built their home overlooking two glorious swimming holes and a canyon filled with salmon, swimming upstream to spawn. Trout was plentiful; I can still see my Grandpa, all these years later, fishing off the rocks. 

When I was 20 I spent a winter a winter alone in a cabin by the river, reading Russian novels, contemplating my future, listening to the rapids and healing my broken heart. I hoped to live on the river permanently one day. The cabin burned down, as did nearly all the cabins along the river.  The fire was fast-moving, and residents had to run for their lives when fallen trees blocked the only road in and out of the area. Some spent the night in the river to escape the fire; some didn't make it. The act of painting helped me heal from the sorrow.  You can see a red figure in the far left of the picture. 

Rest in peace, dear neighbors.