The revelation in this painting for me was raw umber, which I used in the trunks. Its one of the most important colours we have, but Ive tended to ignore it up until now, which got me thinking that its probably a good idea to focus on particular basic colours as a way to explore and learn their properties. It does fascinate me how they all have their own 'personalities'. In this painting Cadmium Yellow was also a godsend as its opacity allows me to overpaint the darker shadowy regions.