MARCH OF THE TREES, or marching along in the studio.

MARCH OF THE TREES

“March of the Trees”   9″ X 12″on 150 lb. pressed paper

Today is #19 in my 30 in 30 challenge, you may have notices that this isn’t going very well. I have 5 days till the end of the month and 11 paintings to go. So I think I already lost the battle but not the war. The success of the whole exercise is keep marching along. I had decided long ago that for my own mental health that I needed to take weekends off. So that is what I do, I walk out of the studio on weekends and devote time to family and friends.

Just yesterday at church someone introduced me as a REAL ARTIST to one of her friends. She explained that I did all the sets for Park Avenue Theater. That got me thinking, working all day in the studio and running an art business for the last 10 years does not qualify me as an artist but designing sets twice a year for 6 years does. I guess it is all in the perspective of the beholder so I will just keep marching along with those trees.

Marching along painting one tree, one set, and one painting at a time.

FOR THE LOVE OF TREES

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Blue Bayou 30″ X 30″

Just recently a student asked me, ” Why do you paint trees without leaves?” Hmm I began to think; I do paint a lot of snags and old dead trees. I like the structure of a tree trunk and the branches that reach toward the sky, why should they be covered up.  But I realized that it had been a long time since I painted a piece that was just vegetation. We have plenty of it up in the mountains of Arizona so yes, I should paint some.  Besides I needed a good example for my student.

Prescott Sunrise 2

Prescott Sunrise 16″ X 16″

I found a photograph of one of our lovely sunrises that had plenty of trees (with leaves) and went to work. Than I realized how much I love vegetation in fact that is why we (hubby and me) choose to live where we do. This has turned out to be one of my favorite new painting.  There is something about forests that become so sheltering, nurturing, and comforting. I love to hike in them. I love the scent of pine, especially after one of our monsoon rains.

So I have the bug now, I will be painting many more trees with leaves, and probably some more old snags also.  I really do love trees. Painting the Southwest one adventure at a time.

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