The most destructive wildfire in California's history started on Nov 8, 2018,1by bad electrical cables in the town of Paradise. It burned for 17 days and caused $16.5 billion in2, destroying nearly 19,000 buildings, killing 85 people and leaving 50,000 others homeless. Paradise was3aparadise (乐土).
Shane Grammer grew up 15 miles away in Chico, and he4the news of the fire's deadly path from his home in Los Angeles. The 47-year-old father of three works as a creative director for Disney's theme parks. Grammer still has5 in the Paradise area. When his childhood buddy, Shane Edwards, posted pictures of his white chimney ― the only part of his house to6 Grammer felt helpless. And then he had a(n)7.
"I've got to paint that8," he toldInside Edition. "It was an opportunity for me to express myself and be a(n)9.
On Dec 31, Grammer10three hours painting a beautifully sad black-and-white image of a woman on the chimney — a reminder, perhaps, of the11of life, or even just of life itself.
Grammer12the image on Instagram. The victims of the fire, especially, had13feelings. "You bring beauty and hope," one said.
14, Grammer realized that his artistic expression had15into something deeper, thehallmark(特征)of true art. Over a period of three months he returned eight times,1617 pictures of victims andmythical(神话里的) heroes on walls, pickup trucks, and ruined buildings. "There is17," he explains. "There is beauty in the ashes."
Grammer's work in Paradise has become a bigger18. He has traveled the world painting big pictures in19places that needed some light: a home fororphansin Tijuana, Mexico; a youth center in San Francisco. "I want to do something powerful and create art that20people," he says.
