This painting portrayed the ancient mythological beings known as Dryads. They were essentially the embodiment of trees in the form of young enchanting women. Departing from the traditional portrayal of these beings as flesh-and-blood women, I chose to present them as spirit creatures instead, which was much more evocative.

The theme of "3" was used in the composition, trees, and figures. I also embraced the idea of the legendary Three Graces in my presentation. The dancing Dryads were posed to mimic trees, with legs generally together reminiscent of a trunk, and arms reaching up like branches. Each Dryad was aligned directly over the tree that they represented. The transparent spirit look for the Dryads was critical and achieved by only painting the moonlit highlights, letting the background show through the rest of their bodies. Since the distant trees were an important element, I painted them, along with the rest of the painting, in full graphic clarity. Therefore, with no soft/sharp contrasts, I relied on a wide-angle perspective effect and overlapping elements to achieve a sense of depth. If you look carefully, even the three Dryads are rendered in perspective.

I'm always exploring various color schemes and went for a violet and green look, which worked out wonderfully for this subject matter. I used the slow-drying Golden OPEN acrylic paints on a polyester canvas bonded to a birch panel. While no painting turns out exactly like what I originally envisioned in my mind's eye, Tree Spirits came pretty close to that goal.