Featured painting ‘Destiny’

Where?

This mixed media painting is an imagined landscape. In other words it isn’t a representation or even an impression of a real place.

Why?

I had the idea of painting an imaginary scene with a winding road or pathway leading to a castle entrance, an indistinct impression of the interior of the castle and a fantastical landscape around and beyond it. The viewers’ eye would automatically follow the winding route to the entrance and perhaps wonder what destiny awaits inside the castle walls and beyond their bounds. A magical land, beautiful in its own way and not intended to be foreboding, but rather entrancing and mystical.

How?

As I worked I aimed to convey the idea explained above. I created the path and its surrounds using pieces of collage paper, some patterned. The golden pathway seems to float above the land, immediately creating an ethereal effect. We know this isn’t real. The castle is recognisable with its painted high walls, turrets and towers but beyond those I used inks and paint merging and running together in a very loose way to create a curious kind of wonderland. The warm colour palette throughout adds to the enchantment of the scene and helps the different sections work together in the composition.

 See this and more original paintings in the Gallery section of this website www.susanbirth.com

Or in person at Yew Trees Artist Studios, Bevere Gallery, Bevere Lane, Worcester WR3 7RQ