Fifth painting of this subject. Had difficulty with the yellow parts, had to do a few layers to get the correct look. A lot of hard work.
Put on several layers of a mid green that compliments the redness of the leaves.
This is the third painting I’ve done on this subject. The background is actually dark green rather than black. These briar leaves were the first ones I found when I was walking in Rostellan Wood, which is the same place that I sourced the briar leaves used in the first two paintings.
Painted this during the summer of 2009. I used blotches of various bright colours to give a dappled texture to the tree. I was meticulously imitating a small photo so it took some weeks to complete this. Carew’s Wood is a local garden centre.
I hadn’t painted for 6 months before I started this. I was determined to make a highly detailed painting as I was a little disappointed with the previous painting’s foreground. Based on a reference photo; the day I took it I wasn’t in the area, I was down by the prom walk in Garryvoe and noticed bales in the field on the higher ground. When I got there I found that they were in every field towards the sea. So I spent the next 6 months painting. The last 3 were spent on the foreground, doing those stubbles trying to depict the sunlight reflecting off of them. No compromise!
eastcorkpainter 