Quite often while painting I have just a general idea for a painting and launch right in to it.  These paintings seems to feed upon themselves, each stroke, each object added brings forth the inspiration for three or four more.  Such was the case with "Watching and Waiting".
 

My original concept was of giving the impression of looking down from a great height to the ocean below.  To give the ocean more texture, and the sky a focal points, I chose to place a quarter moon rising, with its light reflecting upon the distant wave crests.
 

The painting took over from this point.  The slightly illuminated mountains emerged, followed by rolling hills receding to the sea.  Two points of tree-covered land then appeared to the left which helped add depth and balance to the painting.
 

An outcrop of rock was next to evolve with its darkness in sharp contrast to the light twilight sky.  The rock is the edge of a high cliff which allows little light to the plant growth.  Moss grows in the shade while a lone gnarled tree reaches out trying to find life sustaining light.
 

The last part of the painting was the small stump of a tree which could not survive.  The title comes from an old "Moody Blues" song, and the line in the song from which it comes is "Watching and waiting for a friend to play with, why have I been alone for so long?".
 

To me this song spoke of this lone tree high on a cliff, who once had a mate or a friend but now fate has separated them.
 

Now this tree asks that very same question, one which all people have asked themselves at one time or another in their lives.