TREE SPIRITS

My current series of paintings and prints are of tree spirits. I have been photographing trees for about ten years. Roots, tree holes and bark have all captured my attention, but presently, I have seen tree spirits in my photographs. I make work prints first, then, simplified sketches. I scale up my sketch and transfer it to my canvas. Then the fun begins. I paint over my pencil line using thinned gauache paint and a lettering brush. When I do this the line alters some. For me, there is a big difference between my dry lines and my wet lines. My wet lines are more fluid and confident.
Blocking in color happens rather quickly. With much contemplation, my paintings always tell me what colors they want to be. Color has been a passion of mine for a very long time. I had a professor who told me I needed to limit my color.....I decided not to follow his advice...and have been a colorist ever since, so I guess I could thank him for my palette beginnings.