Sidetracked

 

March I
watercolour, salt & metallic printing ink
Teresa Newham

As regular readers of this blog will know, I have a great artistic relationship with my neighbours' flowering cherry tree.  The source of much inspiration over the years, it has been the subject of paintings (Flowering Cherry, Cherry Blossom) and photos, as well as making the ideal perch for gangs of goldfinches and great tits.

a sketch made on my iPad
© Teresa Newham

Last August, all its leaves fell off; we feared it had died. So you can imagine my joy when I noticed signs of life in mid March, around a month later than last year.  One evening I was praying the Rosary while a blackbird sang to the dusk in its branches; I gave thanks, recalling that I'd sprinkled some Lourdes water on the tree last October. 

laying down initial washes with salt
© Teresa Newham

I had planned to do some printmaking in the run up to Easter; it never materialised.  The tree, by now flowering more splendidly than ever, had become an obsession. When I found myself making a little sketch of cherry blossom on my iPad one evening, I knew I had to get it out of my system - and there was only one way to do that . . .

flowers and foliage
© Teresa Newham

I began with some loose washes of Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Permanent Sap Green, with plenty of salt sprinkled over them while wet. Once these had dried, I used the shapes made by the salt to show me where the flowers should go, then painted in some branches with same colours, this time mixed together.

adding the background
© Teresa Newham

I used Cobalt Blue for the background and enhanced the centres of some of the flowers before picking out the stamens with titanium white and adding final touches with metallic copper printing ink.  The cherry blossom is fading now and the leaves are taking over, but that's OK - the tree is out of my system for another year!

March II
watercolour, salt & metallic printing ink
Teresa Newham