I can’t stop painting and drawing trees. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.
I think it’s some kind of throwback to when we lived in them, some kind of collective subconscious thing – they’re ingrained in my imagination and they turn up even when I’m trying not to draw them.

Internal dialogue sample: ‘Hey, I need to design a ____.  Right, Ruth.  Let’s do something different.  Don’t do a tree.  Don’t do a tree.  … Ah, crap.  I’ve drawn a tree!’  Case in point: I have a logo to design for a church related thing and I have already had an idea for another tree design.  An olive tree – you know, peace and healing, that kind of thing.  Idea firmly rejected, of course but I know it’ll creep back later when I stop paying attention, like some kind of fucking mind triffid.

Maybe there’s something significant in that or maybe I’m just a bit uninspired as an artist.

I was really chuffed to be asked by a friend to paint a picture as a gift for her husband.  Guess what she asked me to paint?  Thankfully, I am not short of practice!  Progress pictures above.  I’ve made a bit of a pig’s ear of it, so far…  Hope she doesn’t see this – I need the work, after all!