James Bennett – Tree of Temperance

Artist: James Bennett

Title of Piece: Tree of Temperance

About the Piece: I wanted to produce a piece that represented the type of art that I do, but also my story of pain.

The temper is that of metalurgy.

Some days I feel pretty much like a tree, knotted and bound to the ground beneath my feet. I have a large number of injuries, some pretty mild, some that put me in hospital needing surgery and months or recovery, physio, drugs. I decided to represent these by metal plates on the tree for things that have broken, pins for things that needed operating on or will need surgery in the future. There are 12 plates and 6 pinned areas.

I decided the tree was the best thing to represent my journey, for much of what has happened to me has made me grow, I guess you could say made me wiser, understanding of the little things. And like even the oldest most gnarled tree, there is always a chance to bloom, in my own way.

The Character is myself, doing several of my preferred  parts of my martial path.

About the Artist:  Freelance digital artist.

Practicing martial artist for the last 20 years. Numerous injuries all catching up with me.