Sun & Shadows

I’ve finished another 48″ x 48″!

Here is “Sun & Shadows.”

It’s a sunny summer day in the redwood forest. There is a sharp contrast between light and dark throughout the image.

Brilliant white sunlight floods the whole sky, completely washing out the highest parts of the large sequoia tree in the center.

The sunlight illuminates some of the distant tree tops in yellow.

In the foreground, but still high above our heads, as we are craning our necks to look straight up into the sky, floats a cluster of rich green leaves.

Some of the leaves are in shadow, a green so dark it’s almost black, while others are brighter, lighter shades of green, catching sunlight from above.

The giant tree trunk is blue and purple in shadow, back-lit by the sun. In front of it, leaves sit in a bright patch of sun, shining white and yellow.

The far-away tree tops high in the sky are represented by thousands of tiny shapes, dots of light and color strewn together. It gives a sense of movement, and the twinkling of light as it filters through the many tiny shapes.

The forest on this day is dazzling! There is a sense of cool shade from this vantage point.

The heat of the sun is all outside, above the forest, being captured up there in the sky by the living green network of ancient trees.

Here is a quick glimpse of the painting progress, taken in the studio earlier this month: