Barkflower art studio

COLLECTING SMALL PIECES OF FALLEN TREE BARK.

Driven by my passion for Nature and seeing its diversity, I was captivated by the immense beauty of the amazing colors of a single broad leaf tree in a pine tree forest.

I love long walks in forests and mountains, where I also collect the tree bark for my paintings. This quiet but exciting task is not as easy as it looks. There are stages of the life of the trees when their tree bark naturally peels off and falls on the ground. If I try to take a piece of bark from the tree, that can injure it very badly, if I try to take a loose piece of bark from the tree I am destroying the home of the many bugs already living there. In Nature everything is having its purpose – a dead tree is a house for hundreds of inhabitants who are of crucial importance for the life and the health of the whole forest.

Therefore, I am collecting only small pieces of fallen tree bark. Since it is hard to find, I have to take every opportunity to gather enough materials for my artworks. I pick up tree bark from forests, mountains and cities, many times it is just a matter of luck to find the right place!

The story behind the work.

The inspiration for this painting is the insight of the connection between Aurora Borealis and the unique shapes and curves of the tree bark. This insight is expressed in every painting from the Northern Lights series.

Every time the natural unpredictable patterns of the tree bark lead the way how I make the basis for the three-dimensional composition. Some works are completely randomly done, some are designed by me, and some are a mix of both.

I apply 2 layers of acrylic paint on the bark in order to have a smooth surface for the following colors. Then I paint the natural curves of the tree bark with fluorescent paints to express the movement of color in the night sky.

The feeling of balance and harmony is leading the creative process in every work. Many times, the colors keep changing until the artwork is done.

The painting is temporary, its purpose is to serve aesthetic beauty, to bring joy to the senses and fill the space with balance and harmony.
 

My very first painting.

My fascination with art began by chance in 2010 when I first started experimenting with small pieces of fallen tree bark.

Back then, I decided to leave everything I had been doing behind and start travelling. This brought me to a beautiful pine tree forest in Sweden, where I noticed that a small piece of tree bark lying on the ground looked like a dragon. Then I started searching and found pieces resembling a reindeer, a squirrel, a dinosaur. I took the bark pieces home and glued them onto an already existing painting, like a child would do. I found it incredibly interesting, with a great potential for composing organic, nearly three-dimensional acrylic paintings.

This exploration of such an unusual painting surface gave rise to undulating landscapes, rippling seascapes, and a feast of visual journeys with outstretched trees, pulsing moonlight and rolling hills.
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