Tree Woman?

Though I'm still a little nervous about this whole "peek into my sketchbook" thing (it feels a little like indecent exposure, somehow), I needed to begin somewhere...why not here, with this sketch? This was one of the sketches from the sketch-a-day project I did in January. I'm definitely thinking of doing it again someday soon. Hopefully the second time I'll actually manage to do a sketch each day...

 I've been drawing tree/woman hybrid figures off and on since maybe 2005, the most notable of which are (at least to me) are the relief print Asase Ye Duru: From the Earth We Arose, to the Earth We Shall Return (pictured below) that I did in 2005 and the mixed media painting The Tree Mother I did less than a year ago.

It's very much a recurring theme, but one that seems to change each time I revisit it. I've felt for a long time that trees have a nurturing, almost motherly aspect to them because a lot of plants that are food for people and other creatures grow on trees, many species make their homes in them, and, once they have taken root, they are a constant presence for many, many years.