The year 2022 ushered in a sense of creative restlessness and the result is a new series of works based on portraiture. I'd found myself thinking about still life and portraiture during the winter months. It's been years since I've worked in either of these genres but I felt there was something there for me. After several weeks I realized what appealed, it was the close study and focus on a specific object. Creating 'tree portraits' seemed a natural extension of my landscape based paintings..

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For those of you who know my work, portraits are a huge a departure for me. However this work strives to treat the tree as the subject of a portrait. Trees are painted with the same close observation and sensitivity one would summon if painting a portrait of a person or family. Each portrait is based on a tree I've met during my walks, or been 'introduced' to by friends. As in my other work, I strive to simplify and abstract while keeping true to the character of my subject.

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