all about the greens

It might strike you as a bit strange (well it strikes me as a bit strange considering the amount that I now use it) that I used to be scared of the colour green. I think its a photographers thing and it mainly has to do with the colour of grass. Grass, for me at least, is the worst colour to process because its so difficult to retain the original colour and when processing it, it warps to being too dark/bright/lurid etc. So for this reason I steered away from it in my painting practice. But this year, I felt this urgent pull toward the green - for one thing it invades my every space - looking outside its all green (thank you New Zealand); and as I have a tendency to collect and borrow from my immediate surrounds it felt as though it was a natural and normal step to take. My parents garden was my first inspiration - as I mentioned, I like to collect things, often from places like familial homes, places I frequent in order to keep their memory close to me - in case the day comes or perhaps more accurately when it inevitably comes - when I depart from it or it from me. 

Here are a few shapes and colours that started me off down this path...