Tree Color

Wood Farm Oak

24x30 inches

acrylic on canvas

Notes From my Tree Journal

One of the things I've done is to study color for Florida trees a lot. I have found that for oak trees, I like a slightly grayer green, more subdued than the clean greens I might mix for pines or other trees. For the canopy I like to mix ultramarine blue with Ivory black and add a touch of yellow ochre for the darkest areas. I then add more ocher and blue to gradually lighten the value. I use mostly ochre and a bit of blue for the lightest value areas, adding a bit of white or Naples if I need to lighten the value further.

For the trunks, I like to use ivory black with cad red light to make a nice dark mahogany as a dark base color. I then add various combinations of oranges, reds, ochres to add the highlights and ultramarine and white for dry brushing the ambiant light on the dark side of the tree trunk. Various grays are added as needed.

The colors in the above tree were mixed this way.