My latest large (100x100cm) tree painting: Echoes of an Ancient Forest is due to makes its way to Inchmore Gallery on Tuesday morning. It’s currently hanging in the in-house art critic’s office, in a spot that gets strong side light, and it’s been interesting watching how the painting changes as the light does (one of the effects working in layers and glazes can create). In dimmer light, the darks become more prominent, and in bright light the whites/silvers on the trees shine. Over coffee we’ve been having discussions about this, and deciding which our favourite part of the painting is. Mine is shown in the detail photo, a bit of the texture on the second-from-the-left tree that goes off the bottom of the composition. What’s yours (share in comments below)?
100x100cm
I love this value study, of sorts…seeing the forest amongst the trees! And the wildflowers grounding the black/white/grey in the foreground! I need to try this in watercolor!
Hello Marion,
The CLOSE-UP detail of your Ancient Forest is powerfully wonderful & I believe that particular close-up detail would be excellent as a much larger stand-alone picture in its own right.
The Ancient Trees painting (brings to mind Klimt’s trees) is lovely too but I feel it does not convey ‘ancient’ to me but rather claustrophobia & sinister eeriness, though that might be what you intended. However, ancient trees to me have exciting craggy bits covered in very old, variformed, varicoloured lichen inter alia and I see this in your enlarged detail.
I trust this does not sound harsh because it is not meant to be. I am truly enthralled by the close-up detail shown beneath your Ancient Trees painting. It?s FAB & it just works!
Definitely not harsh, and please don’t hesitate in the thought it might be. I really enjoy hearing what people see and think; I may disagree but would rather hear it than not.
I like the close-up details too, and your comment made me wonder why I haven’t done a larger painting that’s just a “detail”, so now it’s added to the to-do list.
The word “Echoes” in the title is crucial to me, as in it’s not an ancient forest but a new forest, replanted where one once stood, so if you look closely (at a detail) you see echoes of old trees but overall it’s still young.