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 within about two weeks of sunny afternoons, based around a focus time of 3:30 pm.

It was interesting to see how after just one week, the shadows of the massive boughs at the same time each day, had moved significantly. 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 10 seconds, or sunlight over several days).

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

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.

A photographic view of the subject tree in 2006 from a similar direction to that used for the pastel 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 pastel more. Because this pastel was produced completely 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 pastel was produced from. If you attempt to do this, please remember that I was sitting on a camp stool to do this pastel, and the tree has changed since 2006 (but typically changed only a little).