Off Highway 395 in California, up several thousand feet on a winding road from the town of Big Pine, the oldest living organisms on the planet ? the Bristlecone Pines ? inhabit a spare landscape. This nighttime portrait depicts a bristlecone pine which dates, probably, to the Roman Empire. The pines are adapted to survive lightning strikes, fires, and drought ? in fact, they thrive because of these stressors. This portrait, with an artist-built frame, is an attempt to capture these admirable qualities.