The Beauty in Bushwalking
The theme of my final composition is my identity. I chose the gumtree as a representative of my home, as I’ve always lived surrounded by thick Australian bush. I enjoyed going bushwalking all the time, looking up at all the gumtrees and collecting the fallen orange and pink gumnuts. I have an appreciation of their beauty, as I often spent hours observing the details other people would miss.
The elements my artwork shows most are colour, form, shadows, and space. The principles my artwork shows most are perspective and depth. I used pencil to sketch the trunk and branches of my main artwork, then many layers of watercolour over the top. I wasn’t too prepared and hadn’t thought of how I would blend all the colours or even thought of the colours I would use. I liked the angle of the picture (how it’s like you’re looking up, it gives the effect that the tree is huge).
The processes of my artwork were mostly me trying to learn how to blend colours better to make the details look more realistic. Through the exploration of the Australian artist Reneta Wright, I was inspired to use watercolour to represent the colours and textures of a gumtree. My favourite attempt and the one I’m most proud of is in the bottom left of my artwork. I believe I blended the colours beautifully and you can clearly tell it is a gumtree.
My artwork expresses my identity, as gumtrees have always been in my life. I’ve always been surrounded by them and often go on walks and gaze at all the patterns and colours, so I decided to try and experiment by creating one using watercolour. The goals I had when creating this artwork were to obviously, blend well and make it as realistic as possible. I believe I reached my goals, as the colours are blended well, and I believe it looks realistic. Some things I learnt when creating this artwork was to not judge how much effort watercolour artists put into their artworks. I learnt how difficult it was to combine the right amount of water and paint, and how it effects the final product. Often, I would Although it took some time and many layers of paint, overall, I am proud of my efforts.
