Ochre Woods Inspiration
24" x 30" - acrylic on canvas - $450
I keep returning to the subject of 'trees in woods', and have a large number of photos based on this theme to use as a starting point. This painting was inspired by the surrounding woods at an old ochre quarry in the Luberon Valley (Provence) where I painted on two occasions in 2015. In this painting I wanted to create a sense of 'place' through colour (all values of red, red-orange, and yellow, including ochre yellow) more than through an arrangement of landscape elements from a reference photo. And I also didn't want anything too literal. The photos below show how the work progressed.
At this stage you can see how I added surface marks using using soft pastel. Creating these surface shapes and marks allowed me to break up the foreground space into mini abstract paintings.
At this stage I was almost finished. It was the upper wooded area that was the most challenging to develop.
I am really happy with the finished work, and the very warm, palette, pushed a little to the extreme perhaps, but using colours that are certainly there in nature.
