Portrait of a Young Maple

Portrait of a Young Maple

Whenever I paint something that is way outside of my normal style, it takes me a while to decide whether I like it, whether to post it, and especially, what to name it! Well, this one is no different. Thankfully, sometimes by the time I am done typing about the painting, I have a title. 

28" x 22"

Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper

Ready to frame

Click here to view on my website. 

Well, this one started out with a bunch of practice on gessoed paper. I used up paint left on my palette from other works, tried new textured acrylic mediums, and emptied a few paint tubes that were too far gone to count on for an entire painting. As usual, I put all of these things on the textured substrate in all quadrants of the work, and put the most interesting things in the spots where focal points often fall. 

At one point, I painted my frustration on the paper! I knew it was an early layer of the finished work, so I painted with abandon - knowing full well that it would not look good when I finished that layer. And I was right about that. 

To start to "redeem" the piece, I applied a glaze of phthalo green over almost the whole thing. It tones and shapes the colors, and ties everything on that layer together. Then at one point, it was clear to me that the painting was calling for a black area across the bottom. There is black in several places, but none so strong as the black band across the bottom. Even that band of color has texture, and there is some of the underpainting that is allowed to show through. 

Next I painted a band of gold glazing across the painting, right above the black. I diluted it and turned the work upside-down so that it would drip, leaving faint lines across the background. (Are you getting bored with this full description of my process on this piece?)

Somewhere during all of those layers and processes, I knew that I wanted to paint this tree, and that it would probably be mostly gold. The tree is painted in metallic gold, interference green, purple, and red (which is nearly impossible to photograph so that you can see it) and micaceous oxide, which is a textured, shimmery gray paint. 

I have learned that I am especially fond of trees. I would not have liked the name "tree hugger" when I was young, but I now am sorry whenever I see trees being taken down or wooded areas where all of the trees are in neat, symmetrical rows. This particular maple grows in our back yard on the way to the pasture, and I find that it is a recognizable, familiar shape for me. So, I decided to paint "his" portrait.