Cedar Lee June 18th, 2009

I just finished this painting!

Towering Trunk II

Oil on Canvas, 20 x 16″

This is what it looks like in a room:

I needed to replace my previous painting, Towering Trunk, which recently sold.  The original was painted from a photo I took on the campus of Goucher College, where I was first inspired to start painting trees.  I love that painting and wanted to make something similar–I thought it would be a fun challenge to paint a loose mirror image of the original “Towering Trunk.”  Here you can see the 2 paintings side by side–the new one is on the right.

You can see the dimensions of the 2 paintings are different, the new one being wider, and the colors are different–the new painting has a bluer sky.  While the large tree in the middle and the direction of the light source in the 2 paintings are approximate mirror images of each other, I’ve changed the background quite a bit.

The new painting is going to RiverView Gallery in Havre de Grace, MD next week–after the paint has dried!

• New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(4)

Cedar Lee June 2nd, 2009

My latest painting, the newest addition to my Looking Up series:

Forest Cathedral

40″ x 30″, Oil on Canvas

For me, this painting gives me a feeling of joy and peacefulness, of being a small part of something tremendously beautiful, and all being right in the world.

It’s the feeling I get when I’m hiking with family, friends, or dogs on a hot summer day, and the light of the forest floats down through the trees.  The fresh smells of plants and earth fill the clean air.  I can hear birdsong, my own feet snapping twigs, and small animals rustling leaves on the ground.

I’ve used creative license and stretched the majestic tree trunks to impossible heights for maximum splendor.  In that respect, I feel this painting is better than reality–it exaggerates the visual, but still brings out the feeling and essence of the reality.

What do you see in this painting?  How does it make you feel?  Does it conjure memories for you?

If you have 4 minutes, you can watch the painting process here:

I think a lot of the impact of this painting comes from the dramatic angles of the trees zooming up into the sky.  It was important to define these angles at the beginning.

When the sun is directly behind a tree, the edges of the tree become softened and distorted by the blinding white back light.  I’ve observed this effect many times while while walking in the woods on a bright day (trying not to look directly into the sun, of course.)  It’s just so glowy and beautiful–I love it.

You can get a sense of the large scale of the painting by the size of my signature in the bottom right corner.

The circle of sky where all the tops of the trees converge is like a window to heaven.  If I could fly, I’d fly straight up into it.

When you are close enough to the painting to see the individual brushstrokes, you’ll notice that on a basic level there is a lot of abstraction going on–colors blending into other colors loosely and freely.

All these little pieces of paint smudging into each other work together to create the larger image.

Here’s what this art looks like in a room:

• New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(6)

Cedar Lee February 23rd, 2009

This is just a quick update to share a new work.

My painting area is not yet set up in the new studio, so it will be awhile before I get back into my normal studio routines.  But I’ve been able to work on a small painting over the last few days, at a makeshift painting station I set up on a table.  I plan to do more small-scale paintings in the coming weeks.

This is painted from a photo I took during a walk a few months ago.  It was a clear, crisp day when the trees were at the height of their bright fall colors, and the sunlight played in the leaves of the giant trees above me.

Fall Color

10″ x 8″, Acrylic on Canvas

Some close-up details:

In other news: In a few short weeks my husband and I will be going on a tropical vacation–our third honeymoon!  Our last honeymoon was 4 years ago, so this is a long-awaited trip.  I’m bursting with anticipation.  My next blog will include all of the scintillating details!

• New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(3)

Cedar Lee November 17th, 2008

A couple of weeks ago I was walking in a nearby park with my husband and 2 dogs, and we were right by the edge of the woods.  All the trees around us were at the height of their fall color, vibrant oranges, reds and yellows.

You know the kind of fall day where the branches of the trees are a wet-looking charcoal gray against the bright colors of the leaves?  And the air has just the slightest bite of cold to it?  And the sky is bright and gray at the same time, and just a little stormy?

And there’s enough wind so the leaves fall down all at once around you in great big gusts, and you can hear your feet making crunching noises and the many tiny sounds of dried leaves hitting the ground?  It was that kind of day.

It was late in the afternoon but still light out, and the gray sky was broken up by streaks of peach-colored light near the horizon, hinting at the beginning of sunset.

Here is my attempt to paint the magical feeling of that day.

Falling Leaves, 40 x 30″, Oil on Canvas

Hanging art with fall colors like reds, oranges, and browns can give a room a warm and stimulating atmosphere.  I particularly like to use these earthy tones in the living room area.

Designing a bedroom around fall colors can also make for a sanctuary both cozy and uplifting.

• New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(6)

Cedar Lee June 27th, 2008

A couple years ago, I did a painting called “Emerald Leaves,” from a photo I took of an old, stately tree in a city park in Venice, Italy. Our trip there was a college graduation present to myself and a second honeymoon for my husband and I. “Emerald Leaves,” as you can guess, included an abundance of leaves in several shades of brilliant green.

The painting I finished yesterday is the same tree, from the same angle, but during the fall. The leaves of the tree are now shades of brown and warm orange.

This painting is going to a brand new gallery out in Utah that is opening in August!

40 x 30″, Oil on Canvas

Russet Leaves

Here’s a video of me painting “Russet Leaves:”

The YouTube link, for you to share with your friends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCoYrvfixLo

Also for the Utah gallery, I made a near-copy of my previous painting “Daisies.” This version has more vivid colors and a slightly darker background than the original “Daisies.”

18 x 24″ Oil on Canvas

Daisies II

The painting demo event at the gallery last Saturday went great! I got a constant stream of curious visitors all day long.

I’m so grateful for all the people who stopped by to see me–besides the crowds of passing tourists, I was visited by a friend from high school, an employee of the North Carolina Arboretum who suggested I have an art show in their gallery, and a fellow artist, who until this point I had only met online!

At one point my entire family showed up and filled the gallery with boisterous laughter for a couple of hours.

• Art Gallery Representation , New Works: Looking Up , New Works: Petals , Videos
• Comments(2)

Cedar Lee May 14th, 2008

One of the definitions of the word meridian is: “a point or period of highest development, greatest prosperity, or the like.” I wanted this painting to represent the period of highest development and greatest prosperity in the season of autumn–referring more specifically to the period of the highest intensity of color in the fall leaves–that one day when the leaves have been changing gradually for weeks and suddenly you look around at all the trees and the transformation is overwhelming. The whole world for a short time is made unreal by an unnatural vibrancy.

Autumn’s Meridian

72″ x 48″, Acrylic on Canvas

A happy little bluebird sits on one of the branches. (Do bluebirds really hang out in this type of tree during this season? I’m not sure, but this one definitely belongs here.)

You can’t really get the full impact of this painting unless you see it in person, because of its large scale.

Here’s what it looks like in a room:

• New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(3)

Cedar Lee April 4th, 2008

Blossoms, blossoms, everywhere!

This painting began with a photo of the bare branches of the tree in my backyard, like my previous painting “April Cherry Blossoms.” Once I had painted the branches onto the canvas, I proceeded to add an abundance of fluffy blossoms all over the place! The blossoms this time are white–in reality this tree blooms in pink, but I was in the mood for white, hopeful & pure. Gotta love creative license!

Snowy Blossoms
Acrylic on Canvas, 30″ x 24″

The sky in this painting includes colors that range from a very light sky blue to a darker blue with a hint of lilac–you can’t go wrong with cool colors like this! (The Pantone Color Institute, which is the leading authority on color trends, from interior design and fashion to popular colors for cars, has named “Blue Iris” as the official hottest color of 2008.)

I’m fully enjoying the warmer weather. Last weekend my husband and I tackled some landscaping work we’ve been planning for a long time. There’s now a beautiful brick border around the flower bed in the center of our lawn. I’ve been working out every day, and I’m constantly sore but it feels good to be getting in shape. I’m going dancing tonight. And this weekend I’ll be out digging and prepping my garden for planting.

Life is good!

• Garden , New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(2)

Cedar Lee March 13th, 2008

I haven’t updated in awhile–life has just been speeding by!

I signed with a new gallery this week, the Premiere Fine Arts Gallery in Lambertville, New Jersey, owned and operated by Anthony Mustello.

This means I now have regular representation by 4 galleries. (“Regular representation” just means that they sell my paintings continuously and always have some of my artwork in stock–as opposed to a one-time showing.) So, that’s 4 business relationships I have now–relationships I must value and maintain.

My career is picking up speed as I become more established as a professional in my field. Of course I’m happy about that–I’m thrilled to share my talents with the world and to receive recognition for my work, and I’m so thankful for the income my art brings in. But at the same time, I am feeling the pressure to maintain a standard of quality in my work, and to spend enough hours on my artwork so that I am constantly creating something new and exciting.

I think I’m at a time in my life where I’m in the thick of it, so I can’t step back and see how well I’m doing (or not.) It just feels hard–and like I’m always falling behind and never up to my own standards.

However, that’s how I felt during my entire senior year of college too, and I came out of that with lots of experience, lots of friends, and a 4.0 GPA, achieving honors in my major. So, I’m going to just nurture my faith in myself and my work, and try to stay focused on my long-term vision without letting it make me too serious. At least, that’s the goal.

Anyway, here are a couple new pieces for you to see:

Mocha the Huntress
Acrylic on Canvas 8″ x 10″

(Reference photo courtesy of Ashley Van Alstyne–thank you Ashley for letting me use your beautiful photo!)

And this next one mimics the basic composition of my painting “Radiant Sky” but is actually quite different from that one.

The word ethereal means: characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible. This painting turned out so airy and sunny. It looks like such a perfect day that it’s only halfway in the real world, and halfway in the realm of imagination.

So it’s titled: Ethereal Day
Acrylic on Canvas 24″ x 20″

I have been told before that I would be good at painting the scenery on theater sets, because my work sometimes has a dramatic, storybook quality. I think this painting definitely has that.

This past week I’ve done extensive modifications to one of my existing paintings, Upward Momentum. The collectors who are buying the painting were torn between this one and another one, but this one is bigger and they wanted the bigger size because they’re moving into a new home with lots of blank walls. So I made some changes to the painting to make it more like the other one they liked (Towering Trunk.)

Here’s the old version of the painting:

And here’s the new version:

As you can see, the composition remained the same, but everything else is now quite different. I like the new version a lot better–my favorite part is the beautiful highlights on the trunk of the biggest tree.

In other news, I’ve started germinating some of the seeds for my garden. Perhaps only fellow gardeners will appreciate the level of sheer giddy excitement I feel when I look on my windowsill and see this:

• Art Gallery Representation , Garden , New Works: Looking Up , New Works: Nature & Misc. , New Works: Portraiture
• Comments(3)

Cedar Lee February 15th, 2008

The other day I went out in the backyard with my camera and laid on the ground under my cherry tree. Despite the beauty of the old tree, the photos I took had a pretty bleak feeling to them because of the utter lack of any type of foliage or other visible life–just branches and freezing cold sky. It was a cold day, and I scurried back inside after snapping a few quick photos.

In anticipation of springtime, I used creative license when making this painting–I used one of my photos as a reference but then embellished the image, adding a spattering of pink buds and blossoms. Cherry blossom season is so fleeting–if I get a little too busy, it’s easy to nearly miss the magical transformation of my tree every spring. I wish it could last longer. I’m going to make sure to spend enough time in my backyard this year.

April Cherry Blossoms
Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 24″

April Cherry Blossoms in a room:

And here is my first portrait of my cat, Quani. (I’ll probably do more of her.) As you can see, she has a very intense look about her.

Quani
Acrylic on Canvas 8 x 10″

Tomorrow we’re hosting a potluck dinner/movie nite. I’m going to make California rolls. I’m so looking forward to hanging out with my friends.

• New Works: Looking Up , New Works: Portraiture
• Comments(2)

Cedar Lee November 1st, 2007

Just finished:

Autumnal Giants II
Oil on Canvas 24 x 20″

Autumnal Giants III
Oil on Canvas 24 x 20″

If you’ve ordered 5 x 7″ or 8 x 10″ framed prints from me as part of my Holiday Sale, I’ve been out getting them printed and buying the frames. Your orders will start going out in the mail tomorrow!

• New Works: Looking Up
• Comments(0)