Serenity oak

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

This is my second painting of this beautiful tree. I sold the first one recently, so now I get to study it some more. This one is 24x24 inches on stretched canvas. This is a difficult tree to paint. There are so many parts to the trunk and the splits are quite low.

My Palette:

cad orange

cad yellow medium

cad lemon yellow

mars black

titanium white

ultramarine blue

trans red iron oxide

It was great fun and it took me three sessions to finish it.

Live Oak Trees

Tree Paintings

Notes From my Tree Painting Journal

This is a scene from beautiful Fair Oaks in Evinston Florida. I love the way the branches dip down from the tree forming lovely arches. Sometimes the canopies run along the ground from these low branches. They form natural portals.

This painting is 20x24 inches, oil on canvas.

The palette:

cad lemon yellow

Naples yellow light

ub

thalo blue red shade

cad red light

ivory black

titanium white

I really enjoyed doing this painting.

Tree Workshop,tree studies

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Journal

I've been quite busy getting my materials ready for my Tree Workshop in November. The workshop is full but I'm starting a list for a second group for another workshop.  We will be focusing on Pines/Live Oaks/Bald Cypress/Palms for this workshop. They are all indigenous to this part of Florida and I love to paint them. I've been doing a lot of miniature tree studies this month. This is how I teach myself to paint. I do hundreds of these studies on various subjects year round. Here is a sample:

I made myself a template out of index paper. I buy the pads of canvas paper and tear off the binding. I cut the sheets into 8.5x11 and run them through my printer to copy the template onto the sheets. I do the sheet in one piece and then cut the paintings out using the guidelines. You could use oils, but for these I use acrylics. Here is a tip. Use glazing medium with a pale color tint to cover the sheet before you paint. The canvas paper will take the paint much easier when you are ready to paint. I like to use toned canvas. You can use any color your prefer. I usually use cad red light. 

Live Oak on Fair Oaks Pond

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Journal

This pond has been dry for about two years. It finally filled again after tropical storm Debbie arrived in June. I have painted this tree many times and am very fond of it. It is quite large and has a wonderful leaning shape, making it very interesting as a subject for painting. We are in the dog days of summer now and I have just returned from a week long residency on the Nature Coast of Florida. In a couple of weeks I will have time to do another tree painting. It has been a busier summer than I expected and the time is slipping by. I want to do a tree painting on a wooden table or bench soon and will show that to you shortly. 

Fair Oaks Live Oak Trees

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

I took my time on this painting. I've been working on it for a couple of hours at a time. I think I still want to consider the lower part of trunk in the most forward tree. It is not quite right, now that I look at it online. A quick fix will work.

I've been doing some paintings on tables this summer and I'm ready to do a nice tree painting on my next table. That will be a lot of fun. Most nature lovers are crazy about wonderful trees. That will be my next project.

I need to take some time to start getting ready for my tree workshop in November. We are going to paint Live Oak, Bald Cypress, Pine and Palm. Those are four of my favorite trees.

Hackberry Trees

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Journal

I have found some interesting trees at Fair Oaks. They are in a narrow lane, behind Field Two, that runs along the edge of the property. Rick told me they are called Hackberry trees. They have an ancient look to them, almost as if they have diseased skin rather than bark and sort of an Elephant look to the limbs where they connect to the trunk. I did some research on them here:

Hackberry is a tree with an elm-like form and is, in fact, related to the elm. The wood of hackberry has never been used to any large extent due to its softness and an almost immediate propensity to rot when in contact with the elements. However, Celtis occidentalis is a forgiving urban tree and is considered tolerant of most soil and moisture conditions.
Hackberry forms a rounded vase reaching a height of 40 to 80 feet, is a rapid grower, and transplants easily. The mature bark is light gray, rough and corky and its small berry like fruit turns from orange red to purple and is relished by birds. The fruit temporarily stains. 

Summer Palette

Landscape Paintings

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

I've switched over to my summer palette this week which I will use through September.  I like to adjust my palette at least twice a year. They are never more than 7 colors and often five or six. Lots of people think that Florida never changes with the seasons but north Florida definitely has seasonal changes. Many of them are subtle and the kinds of changes that the average viewer would not notice. I can always tell a person who understands the land when they walk into the studio because the get so excited in viewing paintings about the real Florida, not the tourist Florida. 

These are Red Cedars at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge on the east coast of Florida. It is a vast land with a large diverse plant and wildlife population. I love going there to explore.