As so often with her work, Ruth was restricted by the costs of materials. Not being able to afford canvas and stretcher, she relied on off-cuts of hardboard, which, as it turned out, wasn’t such a bad thing. The board had less give than canvas and allowed a thicker build-up of the prime coat and as Ruth explains, in one of her bursts of excitement, “Emulsion first - get the texture first - get the branches – the feeling of it - the bits - the twigs on the trees that were very important, then when you put burnt umber all over it, it would stay. Burnt umber, one of my favourite browns - you’ll get the shape and then you’d go on - you had to feel it in your head. Just had to be there - feel it.”
Glimpse through May trees
Oil on hardboard
47 x 36 cm
Ref: DSC_0323