Medium/Support/Size
Oil on canvas (40x40cm)
My Thoughts About This Challenge
This was a tough picture to paint from as it is very perfect in subtle light caught on the trunk and dark leaves. This picture is also the kind that gives one more than a dozen ideas how to paint the scene. I had to do it in my regular way first and I am now moving on to explore the other possibilities. The only changes that I made from the picture were to move the tree hid behind the big tree to the right and increase the foreground as I liked the play of light on the grass. I have also not included the distant tree on the left as I wanted to keep that area quiet.
Tips and Tricks
- As the tree is relatively dark I had to constantly adjust the value of blue in the sky. I learnt that its not always the same pale blue that will come in handy for a clear morning sky.
- I wanted to keep the outline of the tree same as in the picture to make a closer portrait of the tree. I couldn't do it in spite of twice painting over to correct the shape. It happened mainly due to not measuring the proportion of foliage correctly on the top. With the foreground taking more space the tree top got squeezed.
- I like this painting as it makes me think of a morning walk with vast space all around.
