Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Offerings

"Offerings"
Size: 14x20 inches
Medium: watercolor

From the moment I saw this banyan tree while hiking in Hawaii I knew I had to paint it. It was tangled around an enormous boulder in the middle of a stream. The roots draped down around the curve to settle in a living curtain of verdant green and brown, and the canopy stretched out to fill the empty space of the sky.

I'm always drawn to the ancients of the woods, whether they are my own familiar oaks and redwoods, or denizens of stranger paths. When coming across these twisted elders in the wilds, it is easy to understand animism, for how could something so glorious and unique not have a spirit?

In progress shots:
Part 1
Part 2

8 comments:

  1. Ah, I love the unexpected peachy-pinks! But even so, my eye keeps returning to that mysterious dark crack in the center of the tree...

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  2. Beautiful - DEFINITELY my favorite ! Gonna have to order a copy and the white hair is far better than dark would have been - it would have distracted ...
    Got inkling II in today - thank's ever so much for the unicorn sketch, it is simply lovely !!!

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  3. Beautiful work as always, Steph :)

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  4. This one feels alive to me. The depth and detail are wonderful. I like the colors and highlights around the girl... she stands out, but the focus is definitely the banyan/rock.

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  5. I love the universe in the roots. Glorious! Truly incredible.

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  6. in your paintings I can see Mother Earth vitality, beauty and strength...

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