Plant or Book

Oil on canvas, 24 x 27 inch

This piece is an abstract depiction of St George’s day, where it’s tradition in Spain to go to the markets and choose either a plant or a book to gift to your closest friends. When painting it I attempted to show the stress I feel when gift giving, as it is difficult for me to gauge how much to spend and how similar the gifts should be. I used different sized sticks I found on my way to uni to paint scratchy marks on top of the thinned out background, which I found brought a natural element to the piece. 
This year I got everyone an air plant and made ceramic holders for them, so I was inspired by the curly shapes of the leaves along with the green and brown shades.