It’s no surprise that Tim Althauser’s work emulates a deep understanding of his subject—the tree. His painted aspen trees are so incredibly lifelike; one would think he has spent his entire life staring up at trees — and in fact, he has. Before becoming an artist, Althauser cut timber and built log houses in Arizona and Colorado for over fifteen years. It all started after a brief stint in the Airforce then in 1977, he caught a ride on a log truck and headed to Saguache, Colorado. This is where he learned to capture a liberated feeling of being out in nature, gazing up at the sky and listening to the breeze in the leaves, but all with a saw. After the Saguache sawmill burnt down, Althauser ended up in Alpine, Arizona and stayed for many years cutting timber and raising four wonderful daughters.

Unfortunately, at the age of 38, his logging days ended when Althauser suffered a severe brain hemorrhage. After months of physical therapy, he slowly learned how to care for himself and walk again. He tried to return to his work as a lumberjack, but was unable to. In 2003, Althauser’s artist friend, David Davila encouraged him to try painting. From this moment on, his life forever changed. The paintbrush became his new tool to create trees the way he knew trees, by looking straight up, not to cut them, but to save them forever on canvas.

Upon closer inspection, Althauser signature style embeds colors within each eye notch of the aspen tree. He uses colors such as; lapis lazuli, malachite and crimson red threaded delicately throughout. The viewer is placed under the canopy to be part of a unique, expansive perspective in each one of his paintings.