The Toomer's oaks have found new life on the canvas of Steven Malkoff.
Malkoff was an Auburn student and a walk-on for the football team in 1987 after he was originally denied entrance to the University because of dyslexia.
"I studied architecture here; I played football here," Malkoff said. "But my real calling was to be an artist."
More commonly known as the "Tree Man," Malkofff discovered his gift of drawing when he was in seventh grade.
"I wanted to get into woodshop and work with wood," Malkoff said. "But I procrastinated and turned my schedule in late, and they stuck me in art. It was my destiny. I was destined to be an artist."
Malkoff's love of trees began when he and his then-fiancee used to picnic under a particular tree, called the Ole Oak in Geneva, Ala.
"I was a starving artist," Malkoff said. "You go through a starving state in the arts. If you're a writer, a musician, a singer or an artist, there's always that time when you're creating, but you're really not being paid for it."
Malkoff drew the Ole Oak for his fiancee as a gift because he couldn't afford to buy her something more. He said drawing that tree turned into a career, and he now draws trees all over the United States.
"When I started doing the rendering of the tree, it kind of honed in on my calling," Malkoff said. "I knew I wanted to be an artist."
When Malkoff heard news of the poisoning of the Toomer's oaks, he was devastated.
"Everything on the Earth has its time, and unfortunately because of the poisoning of our trees, the time has been hurried along," Malkoff said. "That's actually what catapulted me into drawing our trees."
Malkoff said his phone was ringing off the hook with callers wanting him to draw the trees before they began to die.
"Everybody knows I'm an Auburn man," Malkoff said. "So it made perfect sense that I should capture the image of our trees before they're gone ... I dropped everything, I grabbed my camera and headed to Auburn."
Though Malkoff has been drawing well-known trees for years, drawing the Toomer's trees was more meaningful to him.
"I've drawn some really famous trees," Malkoff said. "I drew the tree that Walt Disney played on when he was a boy. I drew the tree that overlooks Kennedy's gravesite in Arlington. I drew a tree from Mount Vernon that George Washington planted. I drew all these trees as historic silent witnesses, living markers, but I had no real connection to them."
The poisoning of the trees was a wake-up call for Auburn, according to Malkoff.
He said he thinks the crime showed the community that they take the trees and the great traditions here for granted, until they lose them, and then it is too late.
"I have a connection to these trees because they're part of my childhood," Malkoff said. "I think the reality of us losing our trees made us realize how important they are to us. It's not just a tradition, it's part of our college experience."
Malkoff said the rendering of the Toomer's oaks took three months to draw, and the original is on a 32-by-40-inch illustration board. Malkoff uses only a No. 2 pencil for his artwork and some supplies from J&M Bookstore, where he's been buying his art needs since he was an Auburn student. Malkoff does not use any color in his artwork.
"I love black and white," Malkoff said. "It gives it an antiquity instantly."
Typically, Malkoff does not include man-made structures in his artwork, but for the Toomer's Corner trees, he made an exception, drawing the brick archway and stone eagles along with the oaks.
"When I see the human element of it, and I see the God-made part of it, together I see harmony," Malkoff said. "And the curb is important because it's Toomer's Corner. It's the historic trees."
Malkoff volunteers with the Auburn Raptor Center before every home football game, and his art is on display at the shows.
To view the drawings, visit Tiger30.com. Malkoff welcomes anyone with an idea of a tree for him to draw to call him at 1-888-410-3559.
Malkoff draws many natural settings, but trees are his calling.
"I'm not a tree hugger," Malkoff said. "I'm a tree lover."
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