We were on our way to visit the Crofton Beam Engine near Great Bedwyn when I saw this tree. It looked fabulous against the yellow field. It still looked fabulous when we returned the same way, so I stopped the car and went to take some reference photographs.
It's taken me a few months to get around to painting it, and it went through a few stages over the last week ...
Initial stages: charcoal drawing and underpainting (thinned with turpentine)
After putting the sky in, something special happened. Then I painted the "real" colours over the red and pretty much destroyed the magic.
The fence in the foreground was actually a wire fence, but I wanted something with more substance that would carry more colour. The field itself changed colour a few times (never drastically) and I put some of the red back in in the shadows. The broken fence rail is intended to "invite" the viewer (that's you!) into the field.
Oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm
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