37 cm (w) x 53 cm (h), pastels and charcoal on coloured-ground acid-free ‘Canson’ paper.
Date produced: April 2006

“Inside the Black”, refers to being in the very dark or black region seen under the centre of the tree when viewing the tree from a distance.

I wanted to produce an accurate colour study of the tree forms near the centre of tree, under sunny conditions. This pastel painting was produced entirely on-site, directly from the subject tree ("en plein air"). It was produced within about two weeks of similar sunny afternoons, based around a focus time of 3:30 pm. I needed to work quickly with high concentration to capture the relationships observed, before they changed noticeably.

It was interesting to see how after just one week, the shadows of the massive boughs at the same time each day, had moved noticeably. This told me just how ‘fast’ and dynamic the 'slow changes' from one season to another actually are - the sun being a little lower in the sky after the one week, and a little bit more to the east. We find it difficult to judge changes to things that appear to be static over a medium passing of time (such as changes in clouds over about a minute, or sunlight over several days).

I was surprised by the variation and subtlety of colour observed within the massive boughs and forms. There was reflected light experienced from the smooth bark. The leaf-litter posed quite a challenge in terms of the amount of detail, the colour textures observed, and the reflected light observed.

I am pleased with the results of colour tones within the massive boughs, the expression of the sunlit canopy, the expression of the sunlit leaf-litter, and the feeling of ‘presence’ within the whole composition.

This piece was a finalist in “The 2007 Heysen Prize for Australian Landscape”, held by the Hahndorf Academy in Hahndorf, S.A.