Fall in Tree Land

Fall In Tree Land

Here it is almost Christmas, this Fall in tree land has come and gone. I taught a tree workshop in October on a picture perfect weekend. We painted at my country studio in the woods, enjoying the turning trees.

I have been working very hard on my tree paintings this year and feel that I have made some major steps in technique. Given that, I still have far to go. One painting at a time to success. I've painted red cedars, a cherry laurel, pines, and live oaks in the last several months.  I spent most of last summer developing a new winter palette, with which I've had some success.

Farm Oak Tree
18x24 inches
oil on canvas
distressed silver frame
tree

Trees from Winter to Spring

Jekyll Island Park

18x24 inches

oil on canvas

Tree Art

 

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

I've been busily painting trees this year. I traveled to St Simons and Jekyll Islands to explore recently and found some spectacular Cedar and Live Oak trees to paint. Jekyll Island was particularly fruitful with many walking trails full of fine trees.

 

 

The Fair oaks trees have been wearing their spring prom dresses in the last few weeks. I can clearly see the transition from winter to spring and now spring to summer. it all happens in about 4 weeks, like a blur.

 

Winged Victory

Live Oak

8x10 inches

oil on linen





 

I'll be teaching a couple of workshops in the fall, one in Evinston, FL at Fair Oaks and the other at St Simons Island, The Fair Oaks Tree workshop is almost full. I think there are 3 spaces left. The St Simons workshop has about 10 spaces left. This summer I will work on the workshops, putting the assignments and workbooks together for my students. There is no subject I love more to teach.

 

Some Tree Work

Shepherd

20x24

oil on canvas

Field Three

20x24

oil on canvas

Spring Light

En Plein Air

8x10 inches

oil on linen

 

Notes From My Tree Journal

 

As you can see here, I have been doing a lot of tree work this year. I have been focused on Live Oaks for a couple of months now. Last year I did a lot of pines. I rotate through the trees I like a lot. I'd like to work on some Sycamore trees this year, as they are so pretty. I have also been painting some cabbage palms again after taking time away from them last year. I think I improve my painting skills by sort of taking breaks from a kind of tree for awhile and then rotating them back into my portfolio again. Trees are very difficult to paint well and there seems to be a lot of painters who treat them generically, as if they are all the same. Serious tree painters know that they have to be painted with thought and care and with knowledge, so study is all important to me. I want to master the art of tree painting someday, so I must continue to work hard.

 

 

The Woods

The Woods

40x48 inches

Oil on Deep Canvas

Linda Blondheim Web Site

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

I worked on this painting late at night for about 3 weeks. This fall has been so busy that this is the first large painting I have had time to do. I have painted every day but on small studies. it is good to get back to my regular schedule again after months of travel and then the shopping season.

 

 

This painting is of the Jackson's Gap area of Paynes prairie. It is a favorite part of the vast prairie here in North Central Florida. The giant Live Oaks rim the prairie edge and they are lovely specimens.  I spent quite a lot of time studying limbs during this process. I wanted to get some reference photos of forshortened limbs on these big trees. This painting was a true pleasure to complete.

 

Artist in Residence Project - November 9, 2014

Notes From My Residency Journal

Today started sunny and perfect for painting. The citrus groves at Fair Oaks are in fruit and by December it will be time for picking. The steward of the estate had beautiful sturdy fruit crates made, with Fair Oaks imprinted on the ends. He also has cute red baskets with handles for guests to take home full of fruit. The groves are special, beautiful and are wonderful subjects to paint. The tree below is one of my favorites.  I spent the morning in the grove enjoying the process of painting. I could hear the birds, and Shane barking and playing with his ball while I worked.  There  is no place I would rather be than wonderful Fair Oaks. 

After my painting was done,  I decided to clean up my golf cart. It had been well used last weekend during the retreat. I finished my chore and headed out with my walking stick to look at the citrus trees. I found one in the new grove that was quite interesting. It looked like a combination of lemons and limes, with stripes from stem to end. I forgot to ask about them and I am curious about what they might be.

Soon my host arrived with yummy lunch from Blue Highway Cafe in Micanopy. This restaurant has wonderful food. The salad is really good, with pecans, chunks of cheese and excellent blue cheese dressing. We also enjoyed excellent Paninis and huge brownies for dessert. It was really swell.

This was my day to teach at Oak Hammock, so I had to leave with fond memories of another day in paradise.

The Invitational Retreat at Fair Oaks

Mary Jane,Kate,Kathie and John look over the great art supplies donated for the artists by Gamblin, French Canvas, and Art Alternatives. 

Mary Jane Volkmann painted down by the pond.

My wonderful assistant, Carolyn.

Notes From the Retreat

A year's worth of planning and saving produced my most successful retreat this weekend. My budget included food and supplies and I just about finished within a few dollars of budget.

We enjoyed three days of companionship as well as good eats and impressive paintings. The weather was crisp and cool on Friday, windy Saturday and chilly on Sunday. All three days worked well with no rain. A beautiful experience for all of us. 

More stories to come.

Trees

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-29739284

You will enjoy this story about champion trees in England, shared by my friend Mary Jane.

I've been working on Palms for this study rotation. I do ten painting of each subject in small format. It really improves my technique.

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A rotation of tree studies

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

I have been doing ten 8x10 studies of various subjects for the Daily Paintworks web site. I'm in the middle of a 10 day study of trees. I could paint trees for a hundred years and still be completely intrigued by them.  These studies keep me in study mode, which is the best place to be for a painter in my opinion. There are too many advanced painters who stop studying painting when they become established. I will always be a student of painting and these tree studies help me to advance my skill level. 

Live Oak 3 Study

8x10 inches

Acrylic on canvas panel

A simple Palette

Tree Paintings

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

Lately, I've been fooling around with a more subtle, less saturated palette for painting. I used it for this painting, using a bit of gray in the greens and blues for scenes.  In the last year or two I have been painting trees in this field a lot. The trees are nicely spaced and shaped in interesting ways rather than the classic central trunks I often see. The clouds have been spectacular too in the last month or two.

 

 

In this painting, I used Ivory black and lemon yellow for the green in the largest tree, with more of a black bias in the green and the moss. There was a bit of cad orange in the moss gray as well. As the scene recedes, I began to use blue in the greens mixtures biasing the mix to further blue as the trees went back, until the back row has almost no yellow in it. it was my 5 color palette and easy to achieve harmony and balance in the color for the painting.

 

Painting Pine Trees

Landscape Painting

Notes From my Tree Painting Journal

Since March of this year, I have been painting pine trees frequently. I had the opportunity to paint them live for a week at Wekiva State Park and have been attached to the subject ever since. I've been using some interesting greens for pines, since that week and getting pretty good results. You can see the variety in this new painting of the east hay field at Fair Oaks in Evinston, FL. It is a fine scene indeed to paint. 

I've been using a more controlled approach to my palette this year, with a more subdued gray green as you see in the pasture and an accent of intensity as you see in the front tree. The sky is a warm gray rather than blue. I'm in the early stages of this approach so I expect it will get easier as I grow with it. I had gotten very dependent on using cadmiums for green and too much saturation. I am slowly trying to find a better and more nuanced approach rather than just slapping on bright green. I am liking gray more and more.

Trees Painting Study

Tree Painting

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

This is a painting study, 8x10 inches. I don't know why this image is so bad. The canvas texture is showing through the painting. This is a portal between trees at Fair Oaks. I've been playing around with mixing greens and studying with some neutrals. I toned the canvas with Ivory black first and then used UB with Ivory as the block in for my darks in the painting. I added mixtures of cad orange, lemon yellow, yellow medium and ochre for the various greens in the canopy and field. I put the brightest color in the field beyond the trees. Lots of fun using a limited palette and neutrals.

 

A new Tree For Me

Tree Art

A New Tree For Me

 

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

My heritage and champion tree project has begun to morph into a project of painting trees that I personally think are special. I have never painted a Flame Tree, also known as the Royal Poinciana Tree. They don't grow this far north in Florida but are quite common in south Florida. I wanted to paint one because they are so spectacular, I  really enjoyed painting this one with the South Florida palms with the long fronds. The painting is more subtle than this image shows. I wanted to keep much of it neutral to show off the tree without competing with it.  I am beginning to study neutrals in palette adjacent to powerful intensity. I see so many of the paintings of this tree where everything in the painting is bright.

 

 

This one was very fun!

 

Finished 40x60 Trees Painting

Tree Art

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

I finished this 40x60 tree painting on Monday. It is drying for a couple of days and will go to my retail studio to be installed on Saturday. There is a glare on the canvas on the top left side, so the sky and clouds look a bit off in color in the image. I had a great time with this painting. I love to work in a large format.

 

 

I am studying Royal Poinciana Trees a bit, as I want to do a 20x24 oil on one. I'm in the research stage, doing small acrylic studies right now.

 

A Large Trees Painting in Stages

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

 

 

Stage 5

 

I'm working on a large trees painting in stages this month. It is 40x60 inches on deep gallery wrap canvas. I will continue the painting around the edges for a clean finish without framing. it replaces another trees painting, exactly the same size, that sold two weeks ago.  I love working on the big paintings. They really make a statement to viewers who come in the studio. I'll show the rest of the stages when it is finished. I'll be done this week.

 

Palette:

 

titanium white

ivory black

ultramarine blue

turquoise blue

yellow ochre

cad yellow medium

cad yellow lemon

cad red light

 

 

A big painting

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

The above paintings are possible compositions for my next 40x60 inch Live Oak Painting. I sold the 40x60 painting I had in the town studio on Thursday. I have ordered a new canvas which will arrive in about 2 weeks, so I am busy doing various composings  for the next big painting. 

I'll do some miniatures as well to help me decide on palette as well. It is always exciting for me to do a large format tree painting. I can only do them as one sells. It is very hard for me to store large paintings and expensive to do. I'm excited!

Field Three Live Oak Tree

Tree Art

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

I recently got back from a painting residency in Crystal River, where I spent 6 days out looking at and painting studies of the marshes. The thing that I wanted to study the most was the atmospheric quality and depth of these large flat vistas. I also put in quite a bit of time studying unusual color in the cloud formations over the marshes. Late in the day I saw quite a few yellow and orange creamsicle color in the billowing cloud formations as they began to heat up and grow spectacularly.

 

 

Now that I am back in the painting studio, I'm using some of that observation in my tree paintings as well.  Here is a marsh painting done in studio since I returned home.

 

 



Lots of tree studies

Live Oak Study

8x10 inches

Acrylic on panel

I have been doing a lot of tree studies over the last month, getting my acrylic skills back and having a lot of fun with the process of painting. Sometimes doing multiple studies allows me to just free up and not worry about good or bad. I am switching between oils and acrylics regularly, to keep both skill sets up to par. 

I'm in Crystal River this week, using oils to paint the wild red cedars and cabbage palms. Great practice!

A Study

Tree Art

 

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

 

 

I've never painted the South Florida trees like the Royal Ponciannas, so this is my laughable first attempt. I won't give up. Eventually I will figure out the shape and correct colors. I'll probably have to do a bunch of them to get it right. Trees are hard. I am a north Florida painter. We don't really have tropical trees or plants here so they are a mystery to me. 

 

Pines

www.lindablondheim.com

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

This is the year of pines for me in my tree journey. It happens like that for me. I'll end up focusing on a species of trees and become fixated on studying them for some time. I got really interested in the pines in the Wekiva State Park back in March and have been keen on them since. I'm not really sure why pine trees are less popular as a subject than live oak trees or bald cypress. I find them to be thrilling as subjects. Once a forest ranger and research biologist wrote to me and asked why other painters don't paint pines and I had no answer for her. I love them!

12x16

Oil on canvas

3.5x2.5 inch studies

Nice to be recognized

I was delighted to receive a two page spread in an area style magazine this month. My advanced copies were delivered to my studio today. A wonderful thing for a tree painter!