Pine Tree 2 - Laying the Foundations

Getting the trunk of this tree right and with the correct curve was probably the most important part of this piece.
I spent a while auditioning materials I thought I might use for the trunk. I sampled some gimp, some twisted and braided wool. Nothing really spoke to me.

 

So I went back to the dyed cheesecloth.

 

This had nice graduation of colour and was more easily manipulated. So I dyed some more, and chopped it into narrow strips.

Behind the trunk I needed to lay down some dark branches, those in the shadow. About an hour at the machine produced these.

 

And with the trunk loosely braided, they were tacked to the canvas.

The bones are set and now I can make around another 20 branches with increasing shades of green.