Painting Trees

This is what happens when a puppy gets too close to my paintbrush.  What can I say?  That nose was just asking for it.

Here’s the progress on this painting so far.  Right now I’m just getting the color onto the canvas (which takes a long time with a big canvas) and figuring out the basics of the design.  Once the canvas is filled with the first layer of paint, I’ll come back in with smaller brushes and add more details throughout.

Right now, I’m laying the paint on thick and sloppy.  I’m going to clean it up a lot and add some intricacies later, but I want some of that loose feeling to come through in the final painting.  Starting sloppy and fast and then finishing up with more care and attention to detail is one way I attempt to balance freedom with precision.

Here’s a close-up detail of the work in progress:

I like how some of my tree paintings evoke a certain mood.  For me, it’s the smell of the woods and the feeling of clean air in my lungs that always comes to me–not always while I’m painting, because then I’m mostly focused on mixing colors and thinking about the composition–but every time I stand back to look at it, I have a feeling of being there in the painting.