more trees

I'm working on a series of trees from Filberg Park. I have a 20x20 square canvas that I decided would work for this chestnut tree, so for my daily mini painting a couple of days ago I tried the scene out for practice.




Yesterday at my painting group, I decided on the composition and then drew the trees in with watercolour pencil. I should have prepped my canvas first with some underpainting and I was worried I'd lose my drawing by painting a wash over the w/c pencil, so I went over it all with a fine, artist quality permanent marker. Then I washed in some warm tones and lightly coloured in the tree trunks and branches. I used cad yellow hue with magenta and odourless thinner for the wash, in places I added a bit of dioxanine purple. I used the same yellow and purple for the foreground trees and phthalo green and the purple for the background trees.

Sofie the mini is very nice. I'm really liking the large one so far. You're getiing some great three dimensional for on the trees and the colors are looking great!

I'm looking forward to seeing this come along. This is a prime example of a scene I would look at and think there's nothing there to paint, then someone else comes along and whips out this really engaging picture. Great start!

Thanks Janet and Callie. I continued on painting in the trunks and branches with similar browns to the ones I'd washed in, using cooler, lighter tones in the further ones to give distance. I adjusted the horizon line and started blocking in the background and throwing patches of sky that will end up showing through the leaves. Some of the trunks looked dull and lifeless so I added magenta touches to spark them up.





Here is the next step. I put in all the grassy area with lemon yellow, mixing it on the canvas with the green that had been put down when I adjusted the horizon, and the brown and magenta shadows I'd smudged in under the trees. Then I developed the background a bit more, leaving alone the area that would be taken up by the leaves of the chestnut in the foreground.

The colors you've added are looking great! Thank you for sharing your process!

I love the lighting and the color Sofie. It's a real gentle painting but gutsy at the same time. Interesting style. Kind of an art deco/impressionism.

Thanks Janet and Tommy - it's great to have your feedback.

Here's how it looks now that I've got the leaves in. It needs to dry for a few days before I can do any fine-tuning.

I found it very frustrating painting this painting because the canvas was very smooth and the paint slid all over it. I prefer a more absorbent canvas with some tooth to it. Because of this I had to approach the painting differently than I'd intended. I think it will work, though. i'm going away for a week and when I get back it should be dry enough for me to pick the leaves out better, especially where they cover areas of branch and trunk. I also want to brighten the pieces of sky a bit.

Sofie, the greens you've added look great! I'm with you on liking a more absobent canvas with some tooth. I'm finding the same thing with the Fredrix Canvas pad that I'm using but with every painting I think I'm getting use to it. Just will take some adjustments in my usual methods including the way I use my medium. Looking forward to your next update!

Sofie,

Your painting is coming along beautifully. I haven't been on this entry before this so it is totally fascinating to watch the progression. i was anticipating it being a fall painting with the one you showed before you added the greens. I love what you are doing with the tree trunks. they ar ejust coming alive.

Have a good trip.

Judy

Love your impressions Sophie. I see you keep busy.

Sophie, I love the light through the woods. I was looking at some Homer Winslow art with the same feeling.

Thanks everybody.

I haven't had time to get back to this painting yet as I put my daily paintings and the rest of my cottage windows series on high priority. My show opens on March 2 and I've got a lot to do, which isn't surprising as I'm a great procrastinator. I'll be working on my tree paintings during the show as I'll be at the gallery painting every day.