Driskell’s career-long study of pine trees began with his 1953 summer residency at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Madison, Maine, when he selected the majestic pine for his MFA thesis study. He researched the tree as a symbol of eternal life and surveyed its seasonal variations in his paintings. He favored the eastern white pine, rooted symbolically to both his boyhood home in Southern Appalachia (western North Carolina) and Maine. Pine trees offer myriad ways to explore a complex three-dimensional object on a flat surface: tall, lean trunks support long, bowed branches with airy and bristly needles. The grace and endurance of the pines—green throughout the year, thriving in hardship—became the artist’s personal metaphor.