119 cm (w) x 67 cm (h), acrylic paints on board.
Date produced: October 2017 - April 2018

This was designed from drawings made directly from the tree, and painted entirely in my studio, away from the real subject. This visual composition expresses aspects of being at the subject Moreton Bay Fig tree used in my microcosm project. The basic design comes from experiencing the tree from in under its dense canopy, seeing the shapes of its many massive branches and buttress roots, and seeing the masses of foliage from inside the hemisphere of its canopy. Importance was placed on trying to express the feelings of confronting such a massive organism, with its own strong presence, in the subdued light under the tree’s dense canopy, seemingly with its own sub-environment. Nutrients are systematically collected from rotting debris amongst the buttress roots. There is an ‘exchange’ of atmospheric gases during photosynthesis. Exotic tropical bird calls ring out from various corners of the canopy.

The image is based on compiling more of a concept of the tree from the shapes of the tree’s various trunks, buttress roots, and branches, rather than being a realistic single view of the tree. I used lines of dots throughout the painting, mainly because I find these in indigenous artwork are graphically powerful, and they felt appropriate for this painting. I am not trying to produce artwork that is trying to masquerade as indigenous artwork. I am not indigenous. There is also a strong influence coming from the Japanese woodcut prints of Hokusai, in the flat shapes of colour with fine black outlines used to describe the main boughs and buttress roots of the tree.

Acrylic paint typically dries quickly. While producing this painting, I worked out a good way of being able to keep mixed acrylic paint colours for several weeks. The painting took many weeks to produce. Overall, I really enjoyed designing and painting this image.

A photographic view of the subject tree in 2006 from a similar direction to that used for the designs for the painting 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 painting more. Because this painting was designed from the real tree, 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 approximate place where the drawings were produced that provided the design for this painting. If you attempt to do this, please remember that the tree has changed since 2017 (but typically changed only a little).

With the repeating bands of differently coloured dots in the air below the foliage, I am trying to indicate the gas exchanges that occur as a result of oxygenated photosynthesis on a grand scale.

With the bands of differently coloured dots on the ground, I was trying to suggest that nutrients are systematically collected by the tree's roots, from the decaying debris that sits between the exposed buttress roots.