After experimenting with charcoal and acrylic/glue on wood I decided to make a large-scale (A1) painting on a wood panel. I chose a panel where there was an interesting watery grain pattern as I wanted the natural material to be part of the piece. Wood grain can evoke fluidity and the solidity of the tree which I was drawing. After working on flat materials moving to a panel which is three-dimensional felt more ‘finished’ for a more refined painting which would be exhibited in the pop-up show. The panel coming out from the wall confronts the viewer with the scene; walking around the tree in St Giles churchyard was a vivid and sensual experience. 

I painted the background in a thin wash so that the grain could still be seen. I used Emerald green to mimic the vividity of the grass in the churchyard and the vividness found in nostalgia. There is an excitement and lushness to the tone which I felt when intrigued by the tree. I tried painting onto the wood and then rubbing away with a tissue to create a transparency but found it to be a patchy technique; using a thinner wash with a paintbrush was more effective. I decided to leave the inconsistencies of the layer of paint as it looked fluid - water-stained or cloud-like. An organic background suited the organic subject. Coincidentally some lighter parts of the background were in the same place as the patches of sky between foliage in the photograph of the tree. 

I enjoyed sketching the winding and angular branches. I made the sketch more detailed on the panel than the quick on-site sketches. I feel working from a photograph makes me focus more on smaller details. However, I don’t think the drawing lost the energy of the quicker sketches. I intended to have charcoal smaller details and paint the larger branches with the black acrylic/glue to combine mediums. 

After studying the drawing I decided to leave it as a sketch rather than using paint as I like the contrast which had occurred naturally between the darker charcoal lines and spaces in-between. Surprisingly I had intended to create a bold, weighted tree but had instead captured an airiness and ephemerality through soft lines and spaces within the branches. Often I find myself finishing paintings at unexpected moments and the image becoming different - often more abstracted and stranger than I originally intended. I decided that if i filled in the branches with thick black paint the tree’s form would actually become ‘more obvious’ through clarity and perhaps less detailed as there would be two main sides with some pale lines in the middle. I like the chaotic nature of the branches and how they merge into one another to form a smokiness. I feel the drawing carried the fluidity I intend to explore in my work. Someone commented on how the lines hold a narrative. I agreed that there is an illustrational quality to the charcoal lines forming a fairytale tree. I was surprised by how an Emerald-city background could still maintain a gothic quality when behind the bizarre branches. I feel the middle of the tree appears shattered and disorientating with a triangle to the top left almost looking like a shard. I feel there are themes of states of mind within my work and perception. I feel there is a femininity to the lightness and detail of the tree which links to my interest in female surrealists like Leonora Carrington. I considered putting a stained glass window in the background of the church but decided the gothic essence of the environment can be evoked through the tree itself. A plain background draws the eye to the centre of the tree to loose itself in that world rather than to bring the tree back into the boundaries of reality. 

I will probably show this work alongside other smaller sketches to show the exploration of the tree’s form, experiments in material and shift from white to green - small to large.