A gnarled old Silver Birch tree winding its way up into the canopy of leaves, wearing their autumn colours.

Silver Birch trees are some of the toughest survivors, happily growing in harsh arctic environments. I wanted to portray the unique visual character of this silver birch tree, with it's rugged twisting trunk leading you up into the golden leafy crown above.

When painting the leaves i tried to be as free as possible, finding different ways of applying the paint to provide me with a variety of shapes and marks. I applied oil paints using Brushes, sponges, palette knives, canvas wedges and fingers.

Oil on Canvas (76cm x 102cm)