The idea behind Timberaine sprang from a large painting of stripes Frost had previously completed. This was inspired by trunks of trees in a forest and Frost referred to the painting as a 'jungle'. He wanted a title that 'described what I was doing. Timberaine is a rainforest, it is about timber and trunks'. Working in woodcut allowed Frost to accomplish the quality and clarity of design he envisioned, in contrast to his painting, where the edges of the stripes were inevitably softer. One block was cut for each colour stripe, with a total of ten blocks. The same blocks were used for each triptych, using different colour variations. Frost relished playing with the value and weight of colours, relating them to each other and arranging them in different sequences.