Painting on Driftwood.

Some years ago, during of of my Sunday strolls on the beach, I came across a piece of driftwood.I have always been fasinated by stuff that washes up on the beach. Mostly it's just junk,garbage we recklessly leave behind. But sometimes you find strange bits of junk and wander where the hell it came from ,what was their history.Spent emergency chemical lights probably from a ship ferrying illegal immigrant from north Africa to Italy, bits of netting.... and obviously driftwood.
So I picked up that piece of driftwood .Actually my original plan was to carve the wood into a sort of african mask. Instead one Sunday I decieded to put some paint on it and ,well , it looked pretty good. The rough texture and weathered ends gave the finished piece more character .( well see below the result..)
Personally I loved the effect of the stark black siluette against the red/orange background.
So after this I got more wood and tried some more. The driftwood also gave me advantages which paper didn't. I didn't need to frame the finished work for one. Also I was recycling old wood!
Another thing was the "feel" the weathered,battered surface of the wood gave to the subject I was painting which could never be achived on paper or canvas.