I was inspired to create this painting by a photograph I took in beautiful Quebec City. The trees were dressed in flamboyant colors, telling us that autumn had indeed arrived. Bright reds and yellows took the spotlight from the evergreens, brightening up the landscape in masterly fashion, despite the rather grayish weather on this October day.

It was while walking along the Plains of Abraham that I spotted him; despite all the vibrant colors enticing us to admire the many trees in their finest attire, it was he who caught my eye. It wasn't its predominantly green foliage that set it apart, but rather its spectacular trunk, offering a strong contrast of black and white. This birch was majestic, its trunk of rare elegance, its slender, graceful branches reaching skyward like open arms. The contrasting colors of its bark drew shapes that seemed to dance on its trunk. Organic and artistic forms, intertwining harmoniously and theatrically. Delicate black spots swirled in a refined, aesthetic manner, waltzing through the white spaces of this magnificent trunk. Lulled by a gentle breeze, its foliage composed a gentle melody that seemed to set the rhythm for this sumptuous dance.

For this painting, I wanted to give full importance to the trunk. That's why I took a low-angle photograph, i.e. from the bottom up. This gives prominence to the trunk, so that it dominates the scene, and the foliage becomes secondary. Normally, I like to garnish the bark I paint with green moss, but I deliberately omitted this step. As my aim is to highlight the magnificent shapes drawn by the contrasts of black and white, I didn't want to alter these colors. As for the foliage, I tinted my colors slightly yellow to give the scene an autumnal feel, and arranged the direction of the leaves so that they converged on the trunk, once again to respect my focal point. The final result leaves plenty of room for the main element: the trunk.