Update for the Daedalus Ward Commission...

Well, the work is coming on now.. and the composition is continuing on to the second painting.. have started to accentuate this one - as it takes a departure from the first painting. This one is about the same tree during the spring. Consequently the colours are richer, the textures are more expressive and the work starts to take a life of its own...  I aim to start the third and fourth one together shortly and will finish all first four in the sequence together.

Figure 1

The pictures above (Fig.1) show the texture I am using for the next painting in the sequence. It is a lovely smooth texture paste that I put onto the canvas with palette knives. There is a strange relaxing quality to this action. I then have to wait for the texture to dry - I left it overnight, just to be sure - and then started adding the acrylic colour on top (Fig.2).

 
Figure 2.

Adding the acrylic colour onto the texture gives a little more depth and sense of the 'tree-ness' of the bark (fig 3.)

Figure 3.

However, this process also allows an anthropomorphic reading - by the viewer of the work - to the shape of the tree which gives it slightly more human qualities - which is what I am hoping for.

Figure 4.

So here (Fig 4) You can see the sequence of paintings. The winter composition is now leading onto the spring one. The spring painting is ready for leaves and blossoms - the details of how I complete that task will be in my next blog update.