California Oak in Winter

October 24, 2008 – 16”x20”, acrylic on canvas

There are several firsts with this painting: first painting that will hang in someone else’s home, first use of a fan brush; first time I made up the color from my imagination; first time most of the subject is not sketched onto the canvas before painting

This painting is for Leigh, who’s a glass artist and already made 3 pieces for me. She gave me a black and white photo of her favorite oak tree, taken on a winter afternoon. The clouds are heavy, there’s a little clear sky at the top center, dead grass in the foreground and the tree is nearly a solid black silhouette

I did a very basic pencil sketch on the canvas; pretty much just the horizon line and positioning of the tree trunk.

For the clouds, I tinted shades of grey (titanium white and carbon black) with dioxazine purple. And I’d learned my lesson: I painted the clouds and sky before tackling the tree (which is the main reason that a sketch of the tree wouldn’t have been much help).
For the rest of the painting I employed a lot of yellow ochre. For the tree, I added hint of yellow ochre to carbon black to soften it. I then added more yellow ochre to create the highlights. To create the foreground, I started with a brown from yellow ochre, cadmium red and cobalt blue, then added various shades of yellow ochre, mixed with titanium white with my fan brush to create the dead grass.