The tree is wearing a set of white opera gloves, we see a glove covered branch holding a mirror in this painting. The tree bends her trunk to catch her reflection. If I were her I wouldn’t be impressed with my small eyes, they’re squinting almost shut thinking an invidious thought.  From where we stand we see the lower portion of a circle in the sky. The circle is formed by flying trees and the upper part of this circle is reflected in the mirror.

Once I watched a nature program in which the narrator mentioned a man in Mexico who studies trees communicating to each other through their roots. Often they “talk” together and “decide” to help another tree in their midst by sending it food or moving their upper branches to give it extra sun. This gives a new slant to the word hierarchy doesn’t it?  (In English the first part of the word hier archy sounds like ‘high’ as in moving high branches aside, the end of the word implies one group is more important than another.) Nematodes in the soil carry messages from one individual’s roots to the others’. The trees sometimes decide they don’t like another tree and cut off its sun and send bad chemicals through the nematodes soil to it.

I hope the man in Mexico studies why some trees are treated with animosity. Did these tree individuals do something or communicate through their roots something invidious, in other words, did they do or say something to incur this anger and resentment?   nancymauerman.com

Invidious Tree In Opera Gloves – Framed