As you know, I am in full swing preparing for my May show at Gallery 8 on Salt Spring Island. One of my new pieces that will be in the show was inspired by the view of the ginkgo tree in full autumn regalia outside my studio window. I just couldn’t not recreate the glory on paper! At the time, I had been flipping through a book of work by one of my favourite contemporary artists, Wolf Kahn (click here to visit his website) and I thought, rather than copy what I saw, that I would, like Kahn, create my impression of the scene. Below is the evolution of the pastel. I say evolution because, really, I didn’t know where it was going until I got there!
What I found most difficult was to resist going down the path of recreating a replica of the ginkgo tree and instead, reveal the colour and essence of the scene. So, yes or no?? Was I successful?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please share this blog post with anyone you think might enjoy it!
Wishing you warmth on these winter days.
~ Gail
PS. Today is George Harrison’s birthday! (Well sort of. Apparently on his birth certificate it says he was born on the 25th but some documents turned up that put his birthday at a few minutes before midnight on the 24th. For our purposes, we’ll celebrate it today.) George was always my favourite Beatle. Here’s a link to an interview with some spontaneous music-making.
PPS. Oh heck, it’s also Renoir’s birthday today. Has anyone else seen that gorgeous movie about the last part of his life? You can read about it in my blog post here.
PPPS. And here’s the beautiful book on Wolf Kahn that was given to me by my lovely friend Bettie Pellett:
14 thoughts on “The Evolution of “The Ginkgo Tree””
You have very successfully conveyed the tree to me as well as the effect of the gust of wind.Congratulations
Yayyyy!!
I love gingko trees, and there are many in Chicago planted in the landscape and on the parkway. I like how these trees are elongated and tall, and yours is so unique that I’ve never seen one shaped like this. I really like the leaves falling. Did you make a video of this too?
Deb how interesting about the shape of the gingko trees in Chicago. All of ours are sort of pyramid shaped. I sketched it a number of times to really nail the shape! Glad you like the falling leaves. It really was so lovely when the tree shivered them off.
No video but you’ve given me an idea about having the camera running when I am working on a piece and then at least I have video footage in case I want to use it!
Beautiful! Nice to know your planning thought process and then see the steps to arrive at the finished piece. Love the falling leaves!
Thanks Terry! Glad you enjoyed seeing the process. It’s always interesting for me to look back and see the journey of a painting. Glad you like the falling leaves 🙂
Gail, i love your tree! I want to work toward interpreting color the way you do. Not always Local color, but an artistic interpretation….. Any advise?
I am such an admirer of you and your work. You come across as an upbeat, happy artist, in love with life and your art!
Sam
Sam thanks so much for your lovely comment! It suuuuuuure motivates me!
Some quick advice about interpreting colour – look look look and when you see a hint of a colour that’s not just local colour then use it! It really comes with a lot of doing. Knowing your values helps – doing a three-value sketch for instance. Then you can play around with colour to your heart’s content.
Hope that helps even a wee bit.
Loved your demo and true, the life of the tree shines thru! Hope I can get near there too someday!
Mary Jo
So glad you enjoyed seeing the process Mary Jo and that the tree came to life for you! Would be nice to see you up my way!
Love the final painting and how you got there. I especially like your statement “I didn’t know where it was going until I got there”. That describes a lot of my work these days.
Thanks Marvyn! Glad you liked the statement about not knowing. It;’s true for a lot of my work these days too. As much as it’s scary and frustrating and slow, the rewards are worth it don’t you think?
Loved how the image evolved and hope that one is in the show, Love it, also the other work we were privy to seeing yesterday. All exciting, evolving work! What fun!
It will definitely be in the May show!! Glad you liked it.
I must say I am feeling very excited about the work I am doing now and glad to hear you and others are feeling the same way!