Spanish Moss Inverted

Painted completely within Inkscape - August, 2024

Printed on Red River’s 100% cotton paper - meeting archival standards

I really enjoy painting plants and trees. Each one has unique properties that makes me want to accentuate them.

Most plants have repetitive features. Spanish Moss has them, but they are buried.

The moss is not the same as the green stuff we see in our gardens.

Spanish Moss has a textured surface which makes it easier to grab the next free floating piece.

Many of the ends have sharp points, to easily grab onto adjacent pieces.

The floating connection between pieces, gives a flexibility - allowing it to move in the wind or rain.

The plants have a conical shape going from a large diameter at the tree, down to a sprig at the bottom.

My starting point was a “sketch” of the Spanish Moss - click here to view.

I opted to invert Spanish Moss.

After inverting it, I also chose to give it lots of color.

I wanted the color palette to be bold and strong.

I opted to use colors from Franz Marc’s “Yellow Cow”, part of the Der Blaue Reiter from around 1910.

This required further adjustments - but I think the finished piece now just explodes with color.

I wanted this piece to bridge the gap between realism and abstract.

My of my friends and wife prefer realism, but I lean toward the other side.

There is only one print with dimensions of 36” height x 24” wide.