Redwoods: Three Impressions

I spent a couple of days in a cottage near Mendocino, California, surrounded by tall redwood trees. Here are a few takes on those trees, captured in different moods.

In the warm light of late afternoon, dappled light hits the trunk of the tree, bringing out its rich, warm color.

This next piece is painted thinking of the scene before me as layers of shape and color that fit together. This lets me keep my piece abstract and just celebrate it as a tapestry of texture.

This final piece was painted on a misty morning. I was particularly fascinated by how the tops of the trees disappear into the mist.

It was lovely to spend so much time with the trees and see them in different moods and light. All the time I painted, I wondered how Laurie Wigham would paint them. (you can see her wonderful captures of the redwoods and other trees here)

I painted these three pieces using two brushes, both from Rosemary & Co. One is an old favorite, the 3/8 inch Sable Blend dagger and the other is a fun new brush for me: the Pocket Eradicator that picks up paint and lets you bring soft highlights back into a piece. I used it in that first piece on the small branches, picking up paint to lighten the top of those little branches where the light hits them. The palette? I’m trying one I haven’t used before, with deeper wells. It’s the Frank Herring palette, quite a bit larger than my usual palette.