Thursday 4 April 2013

Crack Willows by the Foss

Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

The last of the snow has fallen, surely by now, April 4th, although it's still perishingly cold out there. 

The Foss, a tributary of the River Chater, is the stream that bisects my village of South Luffenham in Rutland.  Foss is old English for a moat or ditch - there, you can stun your friends tomorrow with this knowledge.

I loved the pattern of broken and fallen branches of these ancient Willows, especially that one to the left of centre poking out towards you, the viewer.  The remaining snow cladding helps to describe the contours and directions of these branches, adding the sense of three dimensions on this flat surface...hopefully!  After a sustained period of concentration painting the network of branches, I had fun painting the lumpy snow on the foreground banks and the rusty-coloured vegetation on the left, then finally the babbling water.  Aargh, finished! 

4 comments:

  1. Compare this with the verdancy of your April calendar picture. Mind you, I can see some green shoots of recovery there. Mem. check stocks of Cadmium Yellow Light.

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    1. Indeed Andrew! Yes, yellow hasn't been used an awful lot lately!

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    2. But seriously, there's a lot of lovely, subtle colour variations in there, particularly in the trees. One of my favourites.

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    3. Thanks Andrew, much appreciated!

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