When I was six years old, I wanted nothing more in life than to climb a tree. I know it seems ridiculous, but I guess I was a simple child, because it’s really all I wanted. The kids in my neighborhood were always climbing trees and hanging and swinging on them. I would sit at the base of the tree, looking up at them, the blue sky and the sun bursting through the leaves behind their heads. I was sure that if I could climb to the top of a tall tree, I would be able to see the whole world from my perfect spot. The thought of that filled me with wonder.
Even as an adult, I look at trees with the same sort of amazement that I did back then. They tell their own story – it might be happy or sad or scary – but it is always a story about life. They tell a story of standing tall for years, weathering storms, steady and brave; and of embedding their roots deep into their home, providing shelter, and comfort to their community. At least that’s the story they tell me, and that’s why I paint them – to tell their story.
With a blank canvas in front of me, the world is my oyster. I sit and ponder the possibilities, with music blaring into my eardrums, and then an idea strikes! I grab my small script liner brush and some gray Liquitex paint and start putting down a rough outline of my vision.
To paint the sky, I use a 3:1 mixture of white and light blue paint with a medium sized flat brush. While the paint is still wet, I blend in streaks of white here and there to give a realistic depth. I paint the sky upside-down so I can reach it better.
After painting the blue sky, I decided to change it to a colorful sunset sky. I find that my vision changes its mind a lot as my painting develops, and I let these new ideas guide and shape my art as I go.
For the sunset, I start by mixing white and yellow to give me a sort of pastel yellow, that I put around the mountain peak farthest to the right because I imagine the sun is hiding behind that mountain. I add some pure yellow (no white added) in some areas for depth. Then I repeat the process with orange above the yellow and then magenta off to the left.
Next come the mountains – purple and pink to really accentuate their beauty, with a natural gray undertone, as well as some dark blue in the cool shadowy areas. Keeping in mind that the sunlight is coming from the right, I made the left side of each peak darker and right side really bright as if they are reflecting sunlight.
Having some texture in specific areas on the canvas can really really bring a painting to life, so I add heavy brushstrokes to the trunk of the tree to define the bark, the branches, and the roots.
After the thick paint dries – which can take some time, I call it my Pinterest time – I can fill in the background without worry because I can see the raised outline of the tree beneath the new layer of paint.
Once everything is filled in, I add in the leaves and the shadows. Staying consistent with the idea that the sunlight is coming from the right side, the left side of each object is darker, and the shadow is cast to the left of the tree.
You can see that I, once again, changed my mind on a few things in the final picture. I couldn’t deal with the rows of flowers, so I just made a field of flowers. I also added colored leaves to the tree. Then, finally, after 23 days of work, I sign my name to complete the painting. And it felt so good!
bright eyes & pink skies 