William Blake said: “The true method of knowledge is experiment”. Well that’s what I was doing with this painting, building some experience—a precursor to knowledge (I hope)—experimenting with a ‘bleeding’ pen, which I then followed with some watercolour. Surprising me, the piece leaned into the abstract, which was okay with me even though it was not my original plan—that’s the fun of experimenting! This painting's original inspiration was the Cowichan Garry Oak Reserve nearby to where I live, but considerable artistic license ruled its completion.