Cycle - Tree of Life

"The concept of a tree of life is a widespread archetype in the world's mythologies, related to the concept of sacred tree more generally, and hence in religious and philisophical tradition."

Wikipedia, 2017

You can find a myth or belief of a great tree serving as a symbol of the cycle of life everywhere: Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, the Persian myth of the Gaokerena world tree from ancient Iran, the acacia tree of Iusaaset from ancient Egypt, the Etz Chaim in Judaism, the Bodhi tree from the Buddhist tradition, the tree of life from Christian faith. The World on the Turtle's Back from the Iroquois tradition was created by planting bark from the tree of life. 

I had started an ambitious drawing representing this idea eight years ago. At the time I was not ready to accomplish something of that magnitude. And so, it was started but never finished. Stored in the closet, moving from home to home but never thrown out. 

This is why we should always keep old sketch books or drawings even if we think they are unsuccessful or even terrible. 

I brought out this 24" x 36" impossible drawing and I decided that this is my next piece in this series.

I used this piece as a kind of rough copy. I bought a slightly smaller, 22" x 28", piece or Arches watercolour paper, then started searching online for reference material.

coloured pencil and watercolour paint, 2009

One of the first issues I found with the old drawing was the foreshortened perspective of the trunk and branches, so I used these references for help.

These sleeping animals were my inspiration for the dead animals within the roots of the tree. I wanted the animals to look more at peace than dead so these animals were more fitting than actual dead animals.

I wanted animals in more iconic poses for the rebirth in the branches and leaves. These references were ideal.

I started by sketching out some gestural forms of the animals to decide their placement. 

Once I was happy with the position of the animals, I added some detail and started building the root system around them. 

I used this reference for the root system surrounding the animals.

Being the world tree, I wanted the tree trunk to consist of many different sources. I used these reference photos and intertwined them to create the trunk.

I started by gesturing the twisting overlapping shapes of the individual trunks, then added the textures of each individual bark texture patterns.  

I worked my way up the tree and decided that the first animals to be reborn would be the caribou and moose simply because their antlers make great branches.

I added the rest of the animals evenly through the branches based on some guide lines I had set out.

After a few attempts at creating a realistic texture pattern for the thousands of branches and leaves, I started adding them while hiding the animals. I had to consider perspective rules constantly to ensure that the tree stayed three dimensional. This was a time consuming process.

Once finished, I started adding colour. I started by adding a yellow and blue colour gradient for the sky background because I wanted a cool to warm, death to life, transition to it. Then, after a few attempts, I discovered a good texture pattern for the leaves using three shades of green. Adding areas of colour first, almost like washes, then adding the detailed patterns overtop. Blending hints of the animals being reborn was a lot of fun, and a great challenge for me.

Since the branches at the top of trees are newer, I decided to draw the animals at the bottom of the tree with more detail and more accurate colour since they would have been growing for a longer period of time.

I didn't want the trunk to be just a tree trunk. It needed to be a conduit from death to life. In our own bodies, our muscles can be considered distributors of energy. So, while staying true to my research photos, I wanted the trunk look muscular.

I chose a cool/neutral palette for the dead animals in the roots to symbolize death, but also to contrast the warm colour of the life section of the tree in the leaves. I also made this section darker and more realistic to compliment this effect.

After around one hundred hours of work (estimated, I did not time myself), the impossible drawing had been finished.

This is the high definition scan that I am using for the limited edition prints. If you are interested in buying the original or a signed and numbered print of this or any of my works, please e-mail me at gilles.rainville@gmail.com and we can arrange the sale. The originals are from 350$ to 950$ and prints are 50$ each and limited to 100. 

Cycle - Tree of Life, Chalk Pastel on Arches watercolour paper, 2017

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