Tried to really push the colour and brushwork and spent a lot of time trying to get the infused light effect of the sky pushing past the edges of the Pohutukawa tree. To do that I painted a pure blue layer first blocking in the shapes, then a darker layer just inside that one, painted the sky into the edges a little, then redarkened the inner after 2 day's drying, then built up the bark texture within that staying very close the to dark value (just a little lighter and warmer), put in some very cool blue reflected lights in the shadows, built the light areas with very thick paint and then blurred some edges here and there working the sky back in to the edges.