Each particular combination of lines, planes and masses - in art as well as in nature - has for us a particular meaning. Let us say, for example, that a tree, a real tree in a field, leans to the left. A slight swelling of the ground at its base indicates the position of an important root. If the swelling is to the left, the weight of the tree is pushing the root into the ground. If the swelling is to the right, the tree is pulling against the root, pulling it out of the ground.
In this painting "Apple Blossoms" even though the tree in the foreground is powerful and painted with deeper and darker values, the eye is led in the direction of the furthermost tree which fulfils the above description and it satisfies the eye as something that behaves according to the laws of Nature. Our muscular senses are elaborately aware of these thrusts and tensions. It is the sympathetic muscular sensation in our own bodies of these thrusts and tensions, and our translation of them in terms of our own emotions, which we interpret as the character of the image that is standing before us. Thus, by using combinations of lines and shapes and masses, and the motor and emotional meanings they have for us, the artist can describe and make us feel the character of the resemblance he has seen. How exactly this happens, however, I defy any artist to explain. This instruction applies to portraiture as well.
In order to achieve the gnarly effect of the tree trunk (foreground) I used a #12 boar bristle flat and loaded it with Payne's gray, Indian yellow, alyzarin crimson and ultramarine blue (unmixed) and moved the brush down the trunk following the direction that the bark was taking. It was a happening -- almost like taking a dictation. That's all I can say about the process, but it is the real joy of painting with big brushes and, of course, the immediate gratification.
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