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Trees are one of my all time favorite painting or drawing subjects. But also one of the most challenging and frustrating. I guess I set a high bar for painting trees and am not happy unless the tree shows the beauty and particular energy that I see in trees. The sweep of the branches, the unique outline against the sky, the interesting texture of the bark, the ever-changing color depending on the light of the sky and season. 

Wherever I drive I study the trees I pass, their outline against the sky, how the sun hits them, the shadows in the tree itself that allow our eyes to identify the shape and type of tree. How can my eye tell which branches are projecting toward me, which are gaps in the foliage? Where does the sun hit and how does that define the shape of the tree? What colors are in a tree? Greens? Blues? Rusty evergreens? Bright acid green of newly emerged spring foliage? Even in a solidly green tree the greens are not all the same, some warm (leaning toward yellow), some cool (leaning toward blue), and obviously the warm greens will be in the sunlight and the cool in the shadow. (An exception to this is the very deep shade under a tree with solid foliage where the light is mostly blocked out. This area will be a dark warm color like reddish brown.)

Evergreens are particularly challenging to paint because from a distance they can look just like a mass of green with little light or sky penetrating the mass. Some evergreens have a symmetrical, conical outline like a Christmas tree. Some have a flat top. Some are irregular, like white pines. Some have long drooping branches; some hold their branches up. Because evergreens shed a portion of their needles all the time they have a rusty reddish cast as the sun hits the dead needles. This may be at certain times of year, I don't know. But it adds interest to the painting to paint them that way, like in the pine tree painting below. 

White pines are easily identified by their extraordinary height, towering above the other trees around them, with arms held up toward the sky in a sweeping, reaching gesture. The gesture of their branches almost looks like they are dancing and in motion, and when painting them the branches must be irregular with no side-to-side symmetry. There are also wide spaces between the branches and beautiful reddish bark. They are one of the most interesting of the evergreens artistically speaking. 

In this painting of a pine tree on the edge of our marsh I wanted to show the powerful sweep of the branches and the interesting, irregular outline against the rich blue of the autumn sky. I added more warm color to the foliage than I actually saw to emphasize the sun on the rusty needles and to contrast with the cool blue of the shade under the tree. Also varying the pastel marks in the foliage and including some of the dead branches and twigs adds interest and movement to the tree. 

Hope you enjoyed this post. And if you are interested in painting trees I hope that you will study them as you drive around your area (watch the road too of course). Tree watching is a hobby I never tire of. 

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