“The Awakening” by Stephen Henning
The Awakening emerges as a vertical portal into the heart of a forest, standing 48 inches tall by 24 inches wide—a slender window painted in acrylic on stretched canvas. This work is a study in atmosphere and subtle revelation, where slender tree trunks rise like sentinels amidst a textured canopy, layered not with the obvious but with suggestion.
Here, I chose a broken color technique: delicate, distinct brushstrokes and dabs of pigment build the scene in pieces, inviting the eye to bring the whole into focus. Cool blues, deep greens, and muted purples dominate the palette, while whispers of yellow and orange peek through, teasing warmth beneath the forest’s quiet surface. The colors shimmer and pulse, as if sunlight is threading its way through the leaves, dappling light and shadow with a fragile, almost elusive rhythm.
The inspiration for this piece comes from my daily wanderings through wild woodlands near my studio—a place where light doesn’t simply fall but seems to awaken the very spirit of the trees. I wanted to capture not just the physical presence of the forest, but the sensation of being enveloped by it, immersed in layers of light and color that shift with every glance.
What distinguishes the process here is my deliberate avoidance of straightforward green. Instead, I sought to create an impression—an experience of foliage that honors the forest’s essence without relying on pre-mixed greens. It’s less about replication and more about evocation: a landscape reconstructed through fragments of color that resolve into a living, breathing natural scene.
The Awakening asks those who encounter it to slow down and enter a quiet dialogue with nature’s subtle complexities. It is a work where light itself feels alive, where the familiar becomes mysterious, and where the forest reveals itself not by what is plainly shown but by what is felt beneath the surface.