Vast Dark Forests of Towering Evergreens

The great thing about being a painter is that you can commission yourself to paint whatever you want and you always sometimes, usually, ideally get just what you were hoping for.

One of the things I really miss about the PNW is vast dark forests of towering evergreens, and the soft hazy filtered light that envelops them. So I decided I would have it for myself, every day, in my house.

Somehow I lost some photos from my phone, including the photos of the first stages of this painting. Oh well. Here it is maybe three-fourths finished:

And the finished product:

Trees and Filtered light, oil on canvas, 24"x36"

This one is not for sale, because 1) I want it, and 2) It's based loosely off an image that does not belong to me, so...

Eventually I'll try my hand at a floating frame DIY. I think a thin warm wooden frame would complement this painting nicely. Maybe it will replace the map above our sofa. I used to have this rule about not showing my own work in my own house, because every painting has mistakes, even if no one else can see them, and it's not nice to be reminded of your mistakes on a daily basis. But in this case, trees trump mistakes. 

Oregon Painting No. 3

Here's the last painting from our Oregon summer vacation. It was a lazy afternoon near the end of our trip, and I decided to walk around the lake to Gini's dock, straight across from Mom and Dad's beautiful home. Still weird that I can't call it my home, anymore.

This is about where I got before I decided to go back inside due to the late afternoon sun/heat.

Working later on the dining room table from a photo. I don't usually mind working from small grainy photos (such as the ones produced by my lame phone) because even though it's frustrating, it's good practice. It's so much simpler to paint quickly and loosely when you're not bogged down by details.

               

"Lake House" Oil on canvas board, 8x10

There are still things I'd like to change and fix, per the usual, but I'm loving the various trees, shapes, shades of green. It's a blurry memory of home. 

P.S. Sold a painting this week (!) to a dear friend from church. It's at the framer's now. :)