Gill Bustamante's Gallery Back

30x40x1.5 inches red forest calls is a red oil painting made in a variety of rich reds, crimson, scarlet, yellow and purple. It is painted in art nouveau slightly abstract style and shows a red deer stag deep in a red forest while above and behind him some female deer call to him from the edge of the trees. There is a tentative message in this - females being the voice of reason when males get riled up maybe? but mostly it was painted because I love deer, I love red and I love deep dark forests. It is painted on deep edge canvas and the edges are also red. Framing not necessary.

A 30x30 woodland path abstract landscape painting in rainbow colours. This painting was painted after a walk I took near Glyndebourne in East Sussex. It was a beautiful clear autumn day and the path was lined with trees glowing yellow, red, purple and green in the low autumn sun. This path led up to a steeper path that eventually goes to the top of the South Downs. I tried to capture my impression of the place in an abstract, possibly expressionist style using very thick wet oil paint and I worked into (wet into wet) over the course of two days. I wanted to capture the low angle of the sun and the impression of the light through the leaves picking out glimpses of ivy on the ancient trees, ferns and leaves in autumn golds and greens. I was very pleased with the result as it gives a satisfying flavour of the scene and how I felt being there rather than trying to be traditionally realistic. I love paths such as these as I always imagine something fantastic being about to be discovered just around the corner. Sometimes I am rewarded with a glimpse of a deer or fox but usually a view through trees to another world keeps me very happy.

A 30x40 inches original oil painting of an abstract woodland landscape in Spring with bluebells and a dryad. This painting is art nouveau and semi abstract and it shows a dryad (tree spirit) emerging from her tree so that she can attend to bluebells in her woodland garden. The colours range from deep purple through to cool blues, greens, magenta and golden yellow. I have used golden yellow in to give the idea of light glinting off of the trees and flowers in small beams of light. My aim was to catch a bit of the essence of the colours and light through trees that you get in a Spring woodland and to show the colours and exuberance of a bluebell wood but as an impression rather than making a botanical study. The dryad was added in later because I rarely paint people so thought I would make an exception. I spend alot of time walking in woods and forests around Kent and Sussex and I am fascinated by the atmosphere you get in them. Some woodland is welcoming, some can be sinister and I always feel as if I being observed so why not by dryads as well as the birds and foxes and wildlife?... Painted on deep edge canvas, white edges, no frame needed.

A large 36 x 48 x 1.5 inches semi abstract red original oil painting of three magical red deer in a red dawn. The three stags stand and stare at us through a haze of red light. Behind the middle stag is a rising morning sun and there is a suggestion of trees and a lake behind them. Two portals lead out of the landscape and elsewhere. The dawn sky is pink. In the foreground are strange red shapes that could be poppies or may be something else materializing. The painting was inspired by the fact that I wanted to make some red art with some power to it. Deer have a mystical and enchanting presence naturally so made a good subject. Painted on deep edge canvas, white edges, no frame needed.

A large 36 x 48 x 1.5 inches semi abstract original oil painting of a summer landscape. I called it 'a summer place' after a song I used to love as a little kid - I can hear this song when I look at the painting. The landscape shows three swallows swooping over the scene with red reeds or poppies, a lake, some pine trees and the sea. It is art nouveau and decorative but also quite painterly and abstract. I painted it after a visit to the Cuckmere river in Sussex and tried to capture the gorgeous ecstatic enthusiasm of the wildlife and birds there as they follow the river to the sea. I was quite happy to be there myself :-)