Plein Air Art. Painting in the plein-air style.

The Artwork of
Kent Wilkinson

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Forestfellow

computer
generated”

The Forest Fellow

A reclusive figure of myth said to be a friend to all.

The faithful allege this deity lives in the thin boundary between urban development and the wilds of nature. The Forest Fellow roams in the night amid the shadowy mist along wooded and brushy roads tempting the passerby with the prospect of transcendental experiences. Seeing this nude apparition is thought to bring increases in wealth and fullness of life to the lucky viewer.

This notion may have found its catalyst in the life of a real person named Aloy B'baner. B' baner was a hermit who is thought to have been the founder of the ancient order of the Brotherhood of the Compassionate Designation. He is said to have often been observed wandering naked on the forest edge. His nakedness was the result not of his desire to expose himself to the elements or the gaze of others, but instead of his habit of giving away his clothing to the poverty-stricken.

The Forest Fellow's curious behavior is often imitated by idealistic youth who strive to cultivate socially acceptable forms of independence while still celebrating individualism. These young people can sometime be observed dodging in and out of brush along the roads of the less populated districts performing the strange practices of their cult, much to the distaste of the local citizenry.

The perplexed spectator's impressions were well summed up by the words of Hayble in his novel Less and More;

"bare and bellowing as they chased one another among the Heather brush, the children of the woods found their own condition to be of such an interesting sort that they often forgot their doctrine of compassion making their claim to be closer to God appear to be one closer to lust."