Tuesday 10 September 2013

Day 10 - Grass Tree

                                         Acrylic on board 15cm x 15cm (6" x 6")

I was flat out today and was beginning to worry that I wouldn't get time for a painting. I didn't begin this until 7.40pm, but thankfully it worked out ok and I finished it in just over an hour. I wasn't quite sure how I would approach it at first, but in the end I decided not to worry about it looking too realistic. Despite the invented flowers and foliage, I felt that I somehow captured the essence of the flowers and the ambience of the walk that I enjoyed with my husband yesterday. The yellow is supposed to represent the Hibbertias that were flowering in profusion all through the bush. The pink is Swan River Myrtle (I think!) and the splashes of purple are Hardenbergia and another type of peaflower and dampiera. I guess some of the yellow could also represent the donkey orchids which were unbelieeevably prolific - check out the flock of them below.

Here is the photo that I painted from and a few others that I took yesterday.








4 comments:

  1. You're doing such a great job with this challenge, and you're a third of the way through the month! This is very pretty, and very nice composition. I enjoy reading about the subjects too!

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  2. Thanks so much for your encouragement Katherine! Saying it like that makes it sound quite doable indeed! - thankyou! I'm glad you liked the painting!

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  3. I'm so happy you have included the reference photo because I have never seen this beautiful tree. I love the sunny feel of this painting, it's very inviting!

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    1. Thanks Celia! These grass trees are prolific around Perth and are an icon of the bush landscape in quite a few areas of Western Australia. Despite being prolific in the wild they are prized as garden features. Many of them don't grow to this height. They are known to be very slow growing so the tall ones must be very old.

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