53 cm (w) x 73 cm (h), pastels on acid-free paper.
Date produced: October 2007

This piece is related to my “Microcosm” project (concentrating two years’ work on one Moreton Bay Fig tree), because it was produced from the same tree used in that project. However, this piece was produced during 2007 and 2008, rather than during the two years of that project (2005-2006).

With this piece, I am attempting to express the forms and space experienced, using mainly colour and tone. Surfaces that are close to me are made more orange, and those that are further away are made more blue. I have tried to indicate the air that surrounds the forms using blues. I found that the overall tone was very important for the expression of the subject.

This piece was produced mainly on-site (directly from the subject - by far, the best way to study the subject), but also partly in my studio from a ‘black and white’ 3-D photograph that I had taken especially for working on this drawing away from the tree.

I tried to work quickly, focusing on the main ideas of this image. I developed an image I was quite happy with and then looked at refining that image further, to improve on what had already been achieved. Considerable experimentation took place with colours and tones, ‘feeling the results’ as I worked; “Could I get this section to feel like it was in front of that other section”, etc. Being at the tree, there’s a constant stream of stimuli, (such as birds calling out from various locations in the canopy, or the wind gently moving the leaves and boughs of the tree) that makes the whole experience real and enjoyable. Producing this type of image requires an exploration of the world around, as well as an exploration of my inner-self.

This piece was a finalist in the 2008 Heysen Prize for Interpretation of Place.

A photographic view of the subject tree in 2006 from a similar direction to that used for the drawing above:

Direction of viewing point shown on a map of the buttress roots and main lower boughs:

This map and the previous photograph are provided to help you to understand and/or appreciate the drawing more. Because this drawing was drawn largely on-site, if you go to the real subject tree with this display on your mobile phone or tablet, it is possible using this map of the tree to find the real place where the drawing was produced from. If you attempt to do this, please remember that I was sitting on a camp stool to do this drawing, and the tree has changed since 2005 (but typically changed only a little).