October Moon (20x16)Trees have always fascinated me; from when I climbed my first one as a kid, to when I fell out of one and sprained my shoulder a couple of years ago... their beauty, their majesty and the way painters have captured them throughout history. Examples that come to mind are the watercolours of Percy Grey, or the California Impressionists of the early twentieth century and the sarcastically labeled "Eucalyptus school" -- (Eastern art critics just never understood it)
Here on the Oregon coast, we have a variety of pine that takes such a beating from the hurricane winds that they often resemble the Cypress trees of the mid-California coast -- ragged and spindly, it's amazing how hearty they must be to survive the winters.
Every region of our country has it's own indigenous species of tree that is equated to it's landscape. I miss the Sycamore and Eucalyptus of California, but the Oaks we have here are gorgeous in the fall and the white trunks of the Birch and Aspens are an excellent subject when the light is right and makes them glow. Painting trees are a joy and a freedom from the riggers of figure work too -- you can add a limb to a tree to enhance a composition, but that somehow doesn't work as well with the human form...
Oh Well, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Oh Well, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
