Looking up through trees – final …oil painting

looking up through trees – 9

Here is the final (centre) piece of my “Looking up through trees” series. The underpainting for this one was a combination of cad orange and yellow.

Tom’s haiku for the overall piece is written in India ink with a stylus on the finished centre painting. This was an experiment and I am still thinking about how text can be integrated into oil paintings in the best way to look part of the art.

eagle forest sky
high above through reaching trees
rooted deep in Earth

Looking up through trees – all 9 paintings of the series together

I am quite happy with how this came together. Things don’t match perfectly but that wasn’t the intention. It’s the feeling of being there that I wanted to communicate.

This is going to be interesting to frame with small equal spaces between each panel. The gaps between panels will be black and the frame will have a black shadow gap at the edge. I may post the framed version once it’s ready.

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe

 

Looking up through trees – 8 …oil painting

Looking up through trees – 8

The under-painting for this one is cad orange and some cad yellow medium. Unlike some of the others of the series, there is no single large tree, but a characteristic texture of foliage, branches and light. I played with a variety of colours for the sky peeking through – blues, mauves, turquoises… That and the bits of under-painting that remain, give a nice vibrancy.

This is the second last of the series! The next post will include the centre piece and all nine 6″x 6″ paintings put together. 🙂

Here is Tom’s haiku written just for this piece – I don’t see any squirrels but I sure can imagine them!

searching bursts of green
ruffled breezes passing by
shaking squirrels on high

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe

Looking up through trees – 7 …oil painting

Looking up through trees – 7

This is one of my favourites of the series. I can really feel the height of this giant tree and the light filtering through! The under-painting was cad orange and while I found it a bit visually uncomfortable during the process for some reason, I think the end result is good. Curious.

Here is Tom’s mystical haiku written for this one.

bright starburst branches
tangled future, ancient past
rising to the sky

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe

Looking up through trees – 6 …oil painting

Looking up through trees – 6

This series continues to be so enjoyable to paint! There’s an infinite variety of greens to play with and the contrast with the various back-painting shades has been an interesting exploration. With this one, the back-painting was a warm enough red to be verging on orange.

Here’s Tom’s haiku written just for this painting.

mysterious sky
lies behind the palisade
sunlight filters through

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe

Looking up through trees – 5 …oil painting

Looking up through trees – 5

Next one in the series! The large tree in this painting is a hemlock. The under painting was transparent red medium with some cad orange.

Here is Tom’s haiku!

Sturdy standing trunk
Straight and tall unbending now
Sways in winter storms

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe

Looking up through trees -4 …oil painting

Looking up through trees 4

The next in the series with a lovely haiku from Tom! (The under painting for this one was transparent red medium.)

Tousled heads held high
Reaching up into blue sky
Breathing ocean air

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe

 

Looking up through trees – 3 …oil painting

Looking up through trees -3

Number three in the series, this one has a magenta under painting. The particular tree is an enormous western red cedar with a twisted trunk I saw in Stanley Park. I like how it starts to melt into the sky.

Here is Tom’s haiku written for this one!

Braided branching trunk
Twisting high into the sky
Shadows down below

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe