I've done quite a few "Tree Portraits" now. They are called Tree Portraits because the paintings always start from something that is special about a tree or a group of trees. A number - but not all - of the Tree Portraits are quite large, 120 x 150 or so. The larger ones have mostly sold. This one, based on a tree at Balmoral Beach, took me months. It is a drawing, in charcoal on (white gessoed) canvas. The tree is enormous, and most of its leaves are on the upper and outer ends of branches. Its branches define a huge space, and it has an architectural and sculptural feeling about it, but of course, it is a living thing and very beautiful. I didn't paint the leaves because it was the form of the tree that interested me and I called the work "Strength and Structure." It sold pretty much the day I finished it. A print of it is in the studio now because I asked a photographer for an image before the painting left.
