Live Oak Tree #16

Tree Art

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

I don't usually do my larger format paintings in one day, but this one just hummed along. It basically had its own mind and led me around the canvas. I sure enjoyed doing a painting without a huge struggle to correct and fix. I enjoyed doing the long drapey limbs and I really like the palette for this painting:

Ultramarine Blue

Yellow Ochre

Cad yellow medium

Cad yellow lemon

Raw umber

Trans red iron oxide

Titanium white.

Tree Paintings

Fish Prairie Trees

36x48 inches

acrylic on deep gallery wrap canvas.

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

I'm about through with this beast. I have to paint the sides of the deep canvas and perhaps a tweak here and there when I see it on Wednesday again. I sure have enjoyed painting this one. I got to practice painting foreshortened limbs, always important, close intervals, and lots of close values. I hope I fixed all of the pesky tangents.  Great fun!! Now I have to find help to hang a 40x60 and this one in the loft studio next week.That will be an adventure for sure.

Masses of Trees

Work in Progress

36x48 inches

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

This is session four on my painting of Fish Prairie. This one is in acrylics and going much faster than the 40x60 I just finished in oils. The acrylics are so versatile and allow me to go back and forth with these close value relationships, making constant adjustments. I love painting on the prairie this time of year with the multiple neutrals and the hint of color throughout from the Hickories and Swamp Maples whose leaves are still hanging on. I always love that surprise of the late turning trees when everything else is bare. It is my absolute favorite time of year to paint. 

Sorting through the jungle of tree masses is challenging and wonderful. Composition and design is so important for this kind of painting. Allowing some trees to begin to emerge as dominant elements seems to be the best way for me to sort it all out. 

This is a 12x16 inch painting I did last Sunday while out on the prairie. I like to spend some time painting on location before I use my reference photos to do an in studio large format painting. It helps me to get a feel for the mood and palette of the place I want to paint.

This is a palm hammock on Fish Prairie painted from a field study. It was a dark day in early summer so you can see that the undergrowth is much more lush than the winter views. I've been lucky to have access to this prairie from Fair Oaks which runs along the rim. The kind owner has mowed several trails through the prairie for access. I spend much of my winter painting time there as it allows me  challenges to my composing skill and helps me to grow as a painter.

North Florida Trees

Tree Paintings

Notes From my Tree Painting Journal

I finally finished my huge tree painting today. There is a glare on the left side of the painting. It is so big that I am unable to get a really good photo. I will take it outside when it dries to the touch and try photographing it again. I really enjoyed doing this one but I find that having enough patience with large format oil paintings is an issue for me. I have become much more proficient with acrylics and so there is the waiting time with oils between sessions.I'm sure I could improve it with time, but I feel it has taught me what it is going to and it's time to move on to the next tree painting.

I have another large canvas, not quite so large but still big. I want to do a painting of the winter trees on Fish Prairie next. I will use acrylics this time. I already have it in my mind, so as soon as I get another rotation in the painting studio, I'll get it started and then take it to my loft studio to work on for a couple of weeks.

Painting trees is the most fun!!

40x60 Tree, Work in Progress Stage 5

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

I'm checking in with stage 5 of the giant tree painting, 40x60 inches. It is coming along now fairly quickly. it still needs about 2 sessions I think. I'll be working on it again on Monday and Tuesday of next week. Working on a large oil painting takes a lot of time. There is a fair amount of tweaking to be done. I try to move around the painting a lot, doing small corrections as I go. Today I worked on the back atmospheric areas behind the trees, adding bits of light here and there in the grasses behind the trees. I extended the trunk of the bare tree further down in the foreground to correct the intervals between trees. I added a distant tree on the far left to balance the composition too. I'm having fun. It is quite impressive in it's large size. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Not Your Everyday Canvas

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

Sometimes it is great fun to paint trees on furniture. I have done several paintings of trees on tables and yesterday I painted this frame. I have painted this as a commission for a tree lover. I must say that it was far more difficult to do than a canvas. Because I had to think of the painting with a giant missing part and steps of uneven surfaces, it was necessary to keep the composition fairly simple and without a lot of detail.  I really enjoyed  the process. Trees are wonderful wherever you put them.

Two Tree Paintings

Tree Paintings

Notes From My Tree Painting Journal

This is stage two of a 40x60 inch tree painting. It is a mess right now but I have high hopes that it will turn into something after a couple more sessions. It is oils.

I really enjoyed doing this alla prima painting last Sunday at Fair Oaks in Evinston,FL.

It is acrylic on deep gallery wrap canvas. I framed it with a natural floater frame with a black liner. This tree was full of character. It is quite large and very old. There are scars all over the trunk and all kinds of odd warts on the surface. It has many stories to tell me. I will take another crack at it one day with a  larger canvas.