Tree Spirit

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge was the word GREEN. I had an idea banging around my brain for some time and had started it by painting a piece of 18" x 24" white cotton with alcohol inks at one end, then wetting the remaining two thirds and hung it up so that it allowed the paint to morph down the piece of cotton - I forget where I got this idea from but it would either be Cloth Paper Scissors or Quilting Arts magazines.



Then I used markel paint sticks and some rubbing plates to add extra colour to the piece. The painting suggested trees to me so I cut the cotton in half and sized it up for stretching onto an 18 x 24 cm artists canvass I'd bought. I made some air dried clay faces which I painted brown to represent the spirits, then added one to this canvass. (I intend to add a couple more trees to this series).



I also bought 3 different types of string: sisal, jute and normal (thinner) and couched this string into a tree like shape and around the spirit face. The ends were couched to look like boughs and twigs whilst at the bottom I unravelled the string to represent roots.



Research into tree spirits shows that the Oak spirit portrays strength, endurance, courage, inner nourishment. A doorway to other dimensions, to higher realms of truth, to the wisdom of elemental power. The oak is high king, guardian of the fertility of the land and its people.



How much greener could I get?