Branching out

Even as a child I was fascinated with tree branches.  Apart from being ready climbing frames, they gave me my first glimpses of various perspectives depending on which angle I was viewing from - looking up, looking down or just being level with the branch.  Even today I can't pass up a close inspection of trees or branches when  they are interpreted by different artists.

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst is a Canadian artist and writer  who is currently living in Melbourne, Australia.  I found her work by accident as you often do while searching some other topic on the internet.  I noticed she also showed at Cube Gallery in Ottawa where my work was in a show in the fall of 2009.  A coincidence !  I love the sparseness of her work, her breaking down the dimensionality of  branches into line and shadow.  It is the patterning of branches that appeals to me most as you can see in my Reading a Garden series on the Leyton Gallery website.

source 

Branches on Wall (2008) oil and marker on canvas 108 x 96 cm.

 

Sunlit Branches (2008) acrylic on canvas 40 x 32 in.

Sumac 3 (2008) acrylic, sumac, charcoal and oil pastel on plywood, 24 x 48 in.


Underbrush (2008) acrylic, raspberry & ink on canvas 18 x 60.5 in.

Twigs and branches

 Nature is often brought indoors at Christmas time.  I think natural materials make the Christmas season warmer and more homey not to mention thrifty.   What can be done with simple materials is limited only by ones imagination. I always have some aspect of my garden indoors or on my front step for the Christmas season.  This year's creations are below.

 I've been nursing these hydrangea bunches for weeks.  The poppy pods are always there and  keep getting new friends added. I love them with the dark outside as a backdrop.

 Outside on my front step - an arragangement of broom, pine, cotoneaster and goatsbeard stalks.

 On the other sideof my entrance is an arrangement of  the same materials with a few twig stars spray painted gold. I'm a little concerned what will happen to them when we have a great gust of wind. Falling stars?

In the living room is a stark and twisty arrangement of branches from my daughter's garden with the addition of two clusters of fake berries for a splash of colour.  I'm not sure where the third bunch have disappeared.
 
I'm not only thinking about branches and twigs for decorations.  I'm still toying with different ideas for my new masterpiece I want to hang over my mantle.  Here are my inspiration shots:

 This is what I see when I look through  my family room window.  Yep, I live in a subdivision.  The big maple outside the window is a great privacy screen in the summer and fall, but in winter it is stark and we are on display. While having tea the other morning I noticed the great lines of the tree in the TV screen which is opposite the window. 

What I loved about this shot was the minimal lines reflected.  All the visual clutter outside was eliminated.  This is how I wish I painted - paired down and minimal.  As you can see I'm still at the inspiration stage.