2023 Oil on Linen 715 x 1220mm $6000
Inside the Green is the obverse view of the trees in the painting, Beauty For Ashes. I asked my Instagram followers to suggest a name for this painting and finally, I have chosen it. Thanks for all the great suggestions.
To go into a rainforest is to go inside a magical world of plants, birds, and colour. A rainforest is visually busy but very peaceful. The sounds of water drown out the outside world and one can truly forest bath.
https://www.japan.travel/en/guide/forest-bathing/: Inside the GreenThe Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, is the simple and therapeutic act of spending time in a forest.
When you go into a rainforest you go into the green. You are surrounded by both the colour, and the light, that brings the forest to life.
Figures in Landscape Series – Number 8
This series takes a group of trees – and structurally places them forward on the canvas as if the artist is underneath them looking through to an open landscape. This pattern was the first of my brush paintings and have set the agender for all my tree paintings.
Trees are the figurative presence in the Australian landscape. The earth is populated by trees. They bring life, wealth, and protection for many millions of species on Terra Firma. In Australia, humans live on the coast and in cities. Trees are not treasured in our culture. They are used to provide building materials and paper and are a thing to be sold. We only like the big straight trees for this. So we have a history of cutting down the old ones. We tend to just paper pulpwood the disfigured and gnarly trees. Even if these provide a much better habitat for animals, and plants like ferns.
This painting celebrates the trees that don’t make the cut. The trees that struggle to survive. But in doing so bring immeasurable beauty to both the world and by painting this work to many millions in the world. As I type this the images of the painting have gone viral on Instagram – reaching well over a million views.
NOTE: In October 2022 a massive flood tore through this creek. As a result, much of the rocks were washed away. Moss and ferns were stripped away. The big tree fern – whose trunk is on the left fell over into the pond. Finally, the main Myrtle next to it has also recently died. The landscape is changing.