Fall Canal and Cezanne's Trees

A remembrance of what the canal looked like a couple weeks ago.  9x12 pastel.

Apropos of the previous post, I came across the following from the new biography of Cezanne by Alex Danchev.  Zola after moving to Paris wrote to Cezanne in Aix, "'Here...there is no ancient pine, no fresh spring from which to replenish the old bottle, no Cezanne with the expansive imagination and the cheerful and racy conversation!'  This little elegy was prompted by the memory of a favorite tree, evoked by Cezanne, who sensory experience of trees approached that of people.  'For him a tree is a growing thing, and can only live where it is; each tree has its appointed site.  And the tree which he shows as so firmly rooted is not simply an essential type; it is individualized, with a history of its own, unlike any other's.'"  The last quote is from Paul Valery.