Big Trees

Wanting to stay home but still paint, I opted to set up on the front patio and paint the view of our neighbor's enormous live oak trees. Since it was the weekend and the Amazing Reese was home, there was considerable added benefit of being close to loved ones, a warm house, snacks, and a restroom.

At 30" x 30", this is by far the largest painting I've attempted en plein air. That's a lot of surface area to cover and with the unwavering predictability of the earth's rotation and therefore the constant changing shadows of the sun, it was difficult to "complete" the painting in one go. Plus, at about this point in the painting, when Reese decided to take Tilly for a walk, I quickly and without hesitation dropped everything to join them.


My artist cue on this one is influenced by Paul Cézanne. From what I've read of his painting habits, when he painted en plein air, he would go back to the same location and paint the same scene on the same canvas day after day until he got it right. Since the set up for this painting is literally in my front yard, hopefully there will be ample time to work on it this week until it's right.