I’ve been continuing this recent series of patterned landscapes, most on paper, in the studio the past few weeks, falling into a very nice rhythm as I proceed. This is a recent completion, an 18″ by 25″ image on paper, that has the Red Tree as the central figure in a quiet but bright composition. The patterned fields of the landscape, like many of the paintings in this series, takes up about half of the composition, solidly built as a foundation to hold up the breaking sky above.
I’m still thinking about what to call this piece. There is a sense of the idyllic in the scene, hunkered away safely from the intruding fingers of the greater world. I suppose that’s why I find this work so satisfying as I paint. There’s a comforting aspect in this work for me. Soothing. Pacifying.
There’s also a simplicity in it but I would not call it naive. I have a feeling that while this is an idealization and the landscape portrays the comfortable and safe, there is also an awareness of the world outside. As though the Red Tree is cognizant of its good fortune in being rooted in this tranquil place. Perhaps that should be its title- Good Fortune.
Let me think on that…
Redtree Times 