Part of the 109 foot long Petaluma Heritage Mural, painted in 1998 by Steve Della Maggiora, makes a perfect backdrop for the real thing. By juxtaposing a live tree with a similar tree in the mural, I’ve tried to add both depth perspective and incongruity to the story.
Shortly after posting this image, I was delighted to receive the following pbase message from the artist himself:
" hey, Phil-
I turned up your gallery photo of the Petaluma Mural tree and the real one in a search of my name (something I do periodically to see what's up) and it's cool that you noticed the similarity between the two.
That was not a mistake. I used the real tree as a model for the painted one.
No one has ever mentioned it to me -- if they noticed, they never said anything about it.
Your photos are great. Carry on!
-steve della maggiora"