From the Art By Cedar Archives: Upward Momentum

This painting was an exercise in one-point perspective, a theme that so thoroughly captured my interest when I began to paint forest canopies. With very tall trees, the effect is so dramatic, your eyes zooming straight up the lines of the tree trunks into the sky.

Upward Momentum. 40" x 30", Acrylic on Canvas, © Cedar Lee 2013
Upward Momentum. 40″ x 30″, Acrylic on Canvas, © Cedar Lee 2013

The painting was originally simpler and flatter, with the tree trunks more of a solid color. The couple that purchased it requested that I add more detail, and that’s when I created the texture of the bark you see in the foreground, the shapes shown in brilliant light and shadow. This was an early example of my continued interest in using paint in creative ways to construct light, shadow, and color into the thick bark of a tree trunk.

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