The third and last variation of the ‘Hyde Park’ series was done with intention to depart from some of the usual representational qualities, with acrylic as the medium. Ironically this variation III was isn’t even about the colours, though it’s covered a large range of the colour spectrum. The colours were often a distraction, while working to getting the values right.

I found myself constantly getting ‘lost’ in drawing the tangle of branches, weaving in and out at transitions between the trees and between shapes on the canvas. Well, that was how the visually intertwining network of branches felt like. So was the colour scheme – ‘weaving in and out’ of different hues in different shades and tints till it deviated from my originally planned palette. Hmm.

Some quick facts: Hyde Park was originally a wetlands which was converted to a city park in the late 1890s, planted with mostly non-native trees. The painting here depicts the Plane Trees, that turned a orange-golden hue circles the perimeter of the pond and Moreton Bay Fig Trees grow around the outer lawn.