I am painting trees right now.......so that means painting some of my favorites......tree bark and snaky, gnarly tree roots.......there is also lots of snow and a bunny, a duck, an owl, a doe, a red squirrel, a mouse and a little girl and her daddy involved but for now, everything is trees....the lines that tree branches trace against the sky, the larger branches flung out wide embracing the sky..... the grays and browns and purples and russets and umbers of tree bark, the glorious undulation of roots like a basket of snakes......I'm loving painting trees!
Lucky for me, I live on a tree covered island so I can take a million perfect photos of trees for reference to use in painting. It's wonderful to take reference photos oneself and not be a slave to someone else's photos online or in a book....luckily I am not painting Baobob trees,
as, unfortunately, they don't grow here. One of Baci the Corgi's and my favorite places to walk is a nearby property where a house was torn down so it's like a secret park.....accessible down a long, tree lined driveway, then opening up into a large grassy area where the house once stood and a huge and glorious Maple Tree.
There are some oddities there that have caught my eye......an old, no longer seaworthy, wooden boat sitting askew in a sea of lawn.......and four chairs, ceremoniously arranged by someone, that appear to be waiting for their occupants. curiously formal as though in preparation for the audience who will be watching.......something mysterious and unknown. I find these quirky leftovers of someone's life enormously appealing and touching.
Back to painting now...well maybe I'll go workout for an hour.......then paint.
1 comment:
These are great photos! I too love to paint trees and find some of the most inspiring specimens on islands. There is something about island trees that take on an anthropomorphic quality--with the windswept looking branches and sinewy, determined roots. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see the paintings!
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