Saturday, December 11, 2010

"Lonely Tree"

9' x 12"
Mixed Media on collage background
$205


This is a mixed media painting that I did this fall.

I have gone back and added an edit to this post.
I originally did not add the meaning behind this painting.
I decided to just put it out there with the painting as it is the reason for it.

This fall, my mother in law passed away.
I watched my father in law those days after she died.
 I spent a lot of time gazing out the back window at their house, looking across the open field...
lost in thought.
As I looked out that window, I could see a line of trees.
One of them was bent in the wind a little,
much like my father in law was - bent in the weight of his wife's death.

I started drawing the tree in my sketchbook at first.
I was obsessed with the shape, with the meaning I had attached to that tree.
The only way that I could get it out of my head was to give in to it and paint it.
And it really helped me to work through the grief of my friends passing.

Jenny Doh can you hear that?
Art DOES save.
 I used vintage book pages, tissue paper from my grandmothers patterns and old hymn books.
The tree is painted in acrylics and watercolors
and then detailed with India Ink.
I love how the vintage papers peek through the background.
It really gives it a lot of dimension and texture.
Email me if you're interested in purchasing this.