Nature is most beautiful as things are about to leave. The long shadow of autumn reveals that the colors of the prairie are at their brightest just before they fade. The circular form at the heart of the painting presents the cycle of life and death, growth and decay. I made radiating lines to evoke the veins of wild plants, now beginning to fold inward. The texture speaks to the roughness of change and the way that time wears on beauty, but does not diminish its grace. Made with grain, stone, rust, plant ash, and paint. I used red sandstone to whittle away at parts, revealing curious deposits of paint, ash, and rust.