Jack Balas, 2016; THE STORY OF FIREWOOD (#1419); watercolor and ink on 2 paper panels, 30" x 45" overall
 
The story:
"Dec. 6,7, 2016: The neighbors know I have a wood stove in my studio, so they save me lumber and branches during the year. TOM was doing an addition and brought me boxes and boxes of boards cut and triangled and layered perfectly like they were baked in pans, and KIRK drove over with a load of split pine in his daughter's pickup which she loves, now that she's dating a cowboy, and we stacked it all like piles of carrot sticks, and ROSS on the corner, when he had that old dead maple cut down, I wound up with a few giant wedges from the trunk that only look like watermelon slices. So the other day when it was so windy and I had some of my own trees lose a few limbs, instead of cutting them up to burn later like I usually do, I just fed them right into the stove, old nests and all ... OF A SUDDEN I SEEM TO HAVE A TASTE FOR PIE."