Studies of Green, Part 2

Some additional studies of green from earlier this year...these were all painted within a week or two of each other, I don't remember when...probably May or June. The first one is 6x8 oil on canvas panel, painted in the morning looking toward the east - so it is partially back-lit. When I brought this one indoors I found that it was a much darker, duller painting than I expected. I didn't get the relationship right between the tree masses and the foreground vegetation. The latter was very strongly illuminated by the sun, the edges glowed...that's an effect that I have not yet mastered.

This second one is 10x8, again oil on canvas board. Here I was looking toward the west around or a little after midday - so the sun is high and to the left. I got closer to the effect I wanted here, but by the time I got around to painting the tree trunks, the sun had moved enough so that they were all in shade

The final painting is a scene looking southwest late in the afternoon...so the sun is lower and to the right, with other trees casting shadows onto some of these trees. I really liked the one shadow across the lower half of the middle tree, and think that effect turned out OK. Not so happy with the foreground. 6x8 oil on canvas panel.

Planning to spend a lot more time doing these kinds of studies next spring and summer. In one of Kevin MacPhersons books, he talked about doing a painting every day of a pond on his property. Basically the same scene, so the problem becomes how to make each painting different and interesting. I don't have a pond on my property, but I've got plenty of trees!