#28 – Dream Tree

#28 – Dream tree in permanent green
November 2015
Acrylic on canvas (1m x 1m)

A new color scheme

Dream tree was very much an experiment into using colors that I had not used for a long time: permanent green and pink, combined with gold and lavender blue.

I’m fond of all of these colors individually, but I find permanent green hard to combine with other colors. The only time when I have used it intently – and also struggled so much with it was for #7 – Inspiration japonaise.

The canvas for #28 started as a reddish feature which was too bright for the mood that I was in. So I toned it down with white, giving that pinkish tone to the painting. I added some lavender blue with a foam brush and started playing with sponge and spraying water on the wet paint to add some dripping effects.

Desert night

It felt to me like I was noticing a desert night materialising in front of my eyes, extending all the way beyond the edge of the painting. The light rose dots are like small moons rising, eacht time from a different perspective, across the desert, above hills, from behind the horizon, rising gently in the misty night.

And then there was a tree!

That desert night felt somewhat empty to me, as if the canvas was craving for moisture, for green, for more life.

That’s when the tree appeared on my canvas, as I was removing white paint from a brush on to the canvas. I started to give these white strips of paint some structure and to add gold powder to the white paint. The more I did, the bigger the tree got, until it became as tall as the canvas.

And then there was green!

I stenciled all the tiny little leaves applying permanent green colour with a sponge on a pre-cut stencil that I had recently purchased, happy to try it out, adding more and more leaves to that mighty tree… using that small stencil over 100 times!

The contrast with the remaining part of the painting felt too strong after that, so I had the idea of letting plants grow in the soil which had become fertile by magic!

This time, I played with a soft brush and my fingers, dabbing little seeds on the soil where there were mound-like shapes and letting the brush trace gentle plants in places.

Dream Tree

Dream Tree and its seedlings were born!

To finish off the painting, I traced a gentle breeze in gold, with large curvy brush strokes.

My daughter Charlotte, from the top of her 5 years old, decided that this particular painting had to reside in her bedroom where it looked after her sweet, golden dreams until recently. Three years on and she’s moved on to more blue tones in her life, blue sky and turquoise being her favorites. So I’m ready to let this painting go to another home.