Year Of The Tree

Quiet Afternoon
oil on panel, 5x7

This study was done at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota, Florida.  Everytime I visited the park I noticed how beautiful it was, and I wanted to come back and paint.  I finally found time to spend a whole day painting there.  This was the painting I did in the morning, before the clouds came in.  There was an alligator slowly floating around at the other end of the lake.  I saw egrets, herons, osprey, anhingas, and vultures around the lake. 

I am calling 2015 the year of the tree because I am planning on doing many plein air tree paintings.  The best thing about painting trees in the Southeast is the spanish moss.  It reflects color and changes with the light.  I have seen gray, green, yellow, lavendar, and red tones in the spanish moss.