Reforestation II Painting

Sorry...This one looks out of focus, but since..I had nothing meaningful to say I decided to upload a painting. This is a 16x20 follow-up painting of Reforestation I. Reforestation I is very similar but much larger at approximately 44x47. This is a painting of the acreage between our house and my neighbor Sam's. Yes I am a bit of an old hippy and nature nut and If you haven't guessed, I like trees. We have preserved a little bit of forest here along with our dear friends and neighbors who own 24 acres of woods and meadow. The irony is that I visited an allergist for the first time last week and found that I am highly allergic to the trees around here...oak, hickory and birch. (I think I need to move back to South Jersey and paint pine trees). Note the little Charlie Brown pine in this landscape.

I enjoy painting the landscape around the property in fall, winter and spring but in the summer it is too green. I have difficulty differentiating between the greens when I paint and everything tends to appear too similar. I think the trouble is that I get bored with green. I had to get a different shade of green for my paintings of Ireland! I felt that there was quite a "variety" of greens there where our midsummer green tends to be a warm sap green which I mix with various colors to get a range. I see a lot more color in the fall and even in the winter. This is a winter scape. Sam's pond was also a winter scape.

On Friday I set up my easel outside and attempted to paint the sunflowers in the garden. I got a bit frustrated with the greenery in the background. The sunflowers are beginning to wilt and fade but the seed clusters are ripening and I find them quite expressive. Hopefully I will resolve my green issues and upload a work in progress soon.

Oh, one complication...Daughter A took the camera and two memory cards to Otakon. We had to order two more. She promised I could have some pictures to share with my blogging friends.