It seems to have been my lifelong quest to capture the wonder of trees with their unique colours, textures, shadows, proportions, shapes and negative space.  My unique 3D tree collages (made up of naturally formed abstract shapes in high quality professional, lightfast watercolours on thick 300gsm acid-free textured watercolour paper) explore the shapes and elements that make up a whole.

 

It feels important that only natural elements such as water, air and gravity are applied to the paint to achieve the wide variety of shapes. Any human manipulation detracts from the whole. With a scalpel I preserve each shape and leave a thin white border so their shape remains clear when my ‘treasures’ are slowly layered to become part of a tree.  

 

I take my time, giving the trees time to grow, finding form and meaning in the abstract shapes. It reminds me of cloud-spotting, another of my pastimes.  Perhaps others will get similarly lost in the shapes and enjoy the realisation that this is not a 2D painting as they get closer and see the individual shapes making up the whole.

 

My ’deconstructed trees’ are ink forms I was moved to preserve in their entirety. They float between panes of glass, adding a pleasing 3D shadow element.

 

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