Untitled

This wretched, hideous wasteland of a painting was a big, long letdown for me. I went to the location in Essex on a rainy day, but was so desperate to paint I ignored it, and stood out in the rain and rising tide (the entire left hand side of the scene, with the yellow flowerish looking things marking the border) for 6 hours straight and painted. The colours were gorgeous because the day was dull, and the dead tree was overflowing with a radiant red, pink, purple coloured vine.

When I got home I worked on it for three more hours, the next day for 10, the next day for 8. And then I realized, after several scrapings and repaintings, that I was just not going to get it right before the paint dried. I had missed the window.

What was problematic for me was conveying that all those leaves are a part of a vine, which hung, though full, like a delicate veil over the branch system of the dead tree. My vine kept looking like a multi-ton mixture of regugitated tar and half-chewed jellybeans. This one still rankles so I’ll leave it at that. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful vine, in spite of what this looks like.

Incidentally, I have this one up on the “Plein Air 2011” page as well, but I took its picture outside, where the light is reflecting on the sky in such a way that the whole thing is subdued and almost passable looking… but the truth is here before you.