Making this painting was a first on a few levels. It is the biggest painting I've made to date, 48"x44". Additionally, it was the first time I painted a tree inside my studio. Well, maybe not the whole tree.
I actually bought three cherry blossom branches from my local florist, and then brought them into my studio, plopped them in a bucket of water and started painting. Having the branches inside meant I could take my time with the little dangling puffs of pink, and pay attention to the value and color changes on these intricate, delicate forms. It was lovely to get up so close to them for a thorough study.
Following the twisting, rising lines of the branches and foliage was dizzying at times. I had to push the perspective to create the sense of the branches reaching up, while putting thick bold paint on the thicker bark sections at the base. The chance to spend so much time intimately contemplating the beauty of these boughs was like a blessing.
Painting nature indoors is a curious thing. Without the elements, I could explore the details of the leaves and bark and buds almost leisurely, and at eye level, which was very sweet. But at times, especially as it started to die, the cherry branch seemed painfully out of her element. I realize now, that it was the turquoise cloth which echoed an open, free sky that helped soften the story of this wild beauty, held captive inside the walls of my studio.
