Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Barking of Trees

In the winter I always find myself looking at bark... none of the usual colorful distractions! I love its strange (& intricate) contours & crevices.

I'm not quite so fond of barking dogs, but one appeared in my sketchbook one day growing out of a dogwood stump, & I just felt like painting it.

Browsing an 1878 encyclopedia for text to use in the background, I was thrilled to discover instructions for the barking of trees! The phrase actually refers to the harvesting of bark, but the article gave me both background & title for this painting.

Acrylic on text on canvas, 9x12"-- please click for details.

Oh! I almost forgot. This piece will be at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh. I'm one of the featured artists in the Exchange gallery for March. I'll be at the opening on Friday the 6th (First Friday).

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

The detail in the bark is beautiful, but I particularly like the dog, the wrinkles and muscles of it, which are so often left out.

Valerie Jeanne said...

This is just superb. The dog face is so real and yet you've added a touch of fantasy to it. The tree bark is incredibly detailed. Beautiful.

Elizabeth O Dulemba said...

Gorgeous as always!
:)
e

Anonymous said...

WOW!! Amazing work, the detail is defintely intricate, especially the tree bark, that's my favourite part of the piece. Lovely work :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent work, delightful detail.

Juan said...

Fantastic piece Leah! As always

steve said...

Oh wow, I thought you stopped blogging there for a bit Leah! Holy cow, this is astonishingly good! Glad you're posting again!

Shannon Melville said...

very unique and humorous, i love all your textures and details in the bark and dog. Great way you came up with the title too! Thanks for your nice comment on my blog

Anonymous said...

I love bark and trees, too! What a great piece!

mitchowl said...

this piece is awesome! I love the subtle words in the background and great textures all around.

Anonymous said...

It's great. I wish I could have come to the opening. I love the pun.
--Nat

Kacey said...

Awesome work! I love your style and great meaning behind the piece.

joseph's art and stuff said...

amazing piece of work, love the story on how this came about.

Anonymous said...

Do you think you might ever make a tutorial or list some tips as to how you achieve such wonderful texture and rich varying color?

johanna said...

Congratulations on being the featured artist! Your work is wonderful!