"Adam" Diptych

An old man with a long white beard and a dark flat cap stands before the trunk of a heavy, twisting tree, its bare branches fanning against a pale sky. He lifts a small dark fruit toward his mouth with both weathered hands, gaze lowered in concentration, while fields, a fence, and low hills stretch out behind him.

Muted greens and warm browns run through the landscape, while the tree's bark is built up in thick, textured strokes of maroon and ochre. Light falls softly across his face and beard, picking out the deep creases of age, as the background flattens into looser brushwork. The solitary figure and the fruit he raises give the plain portrait a quietly symbolic charge.