Tapestry of Blue and Gold

Soft pastel on La Carte paper, inspired by the shapes of pine trees in a local park. For this painting I was first attracted by the shapes of the trees and the interplay of light and dark. My original reference photo from my forest walk was rather dull and grey. But I saw blue in the pine tree foliage and I wanted to push that colour. The yellow gold was such an enchanting contrast to the blue, I used it throughout for both the light through the trees and for the sky. This was a challenge to move away from local colour and I really enjoyed using two main hues to capture the scene. Using a long vertical composition enabled me to suggest the height of the trees and the final result suggests a rich tapestry of colour and light.