Tree paintings are some of my favorites. Every living artist and every dead one had their own vision of trees.
I’m going to share how I painted this tree. It was a journey of lots of ups and downs.
I was ready to quit many times and just paint white all over it, but I let it sit and stew in its own colors.
I don’t have pictures of what brought it to chaos, but I started out just smearing colors across the canvas with my hands. I smeared countless layers and colors, and lost track of any possible solution for this painting.
It finally ended up like this:
Some people might like the mess, but it didn’t feel finished to me at all. It sat like this for a long time. When I had left over paint, I would slap some on this painting.
Then I arrived at this, which was something beyond my scope. How could I bring out a focus in this painting?
I finally saw a tree trunk in the mess, and drew two black lines and some roots. Then I had major problems with the background. It went through several stages before it felt right.
Here I had the tree painting, but I thought the background looked imbalanced. It didn’t feel complete at all.
I added a tree to the side in the background, but … I wasn’t happy. Backgrounds can sometimes be tricky. You have to brave and forge on!
Then I made the background almost white. I wanted to leave the space between the roots white. Still, didn’t work.
This felt a lot more peaceful, a balance of dark and light encasing the tree “spirit.” I can see the spirit as a vibrant energy.
To be honest, I’m not sure if it’s finished. I thought it was, but when I look at these pictures, I’m hesitant. Sometimes it’s easier to see what works and what doesn’t in a picture. It is a distance from the painting itself.
Time will tell.
I started this painting in April of 2015… You would think I could have finished it, but the Muse does not like a harness. I did plenty of other art meanwhile.
There is a time for everything…
xo
Maria
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Hi there,
I really enjoyed reading your process as yourTree painting emerged.
It is lovely to know all the layers that happen, the twists and turns and then finally it begins to take shape… is it finished? Maybe… maybe not…
I often go back to “finished” paintings and add further layers.
Thanks I am so glad I found you
Thank you, Kassi,for your lovely comment, and yes, it’s hard to know if it’s done sometimmes. 🙂