Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day 17
Arbutus by Parksville
6" x 6" Acrylic on loose canvas
$45

Some time ago I saw a picture of an arbutus tree posted on face book.  I recognized the individual who posted it as a friend so I contacted him and asked permission to paint it sometime.  Sometime is one of my favourite times!

Well I didn’t get at it but my friend, who has been following my posting on the 30 challenge, asked me how the painting of the tree was progressing.   I had to admit that I hadn’t done anything with it yet.  However, “sometime” has come and here is a rough sketch of an edited version of the scene.  The whole picture really needs to be painted in a larger format – 16” x 20” at least, which I will do someday (another one of my favourite times)!  I would probably paint it in oil rather than acrylic.  Acrylics are difficult to blend and get the effect I really want.

This little 6” x 6” gives me an indication of what I need to do for a finished painting.  I found this a challenge, particularly with the small leaves which are quite back in the distance.  Normally I would just paint some larger areas suggesting leaves and leave it at that.  However, my two hour self imposed time limit quickly slipped by on this one and I forced myself to stop.  Could have/should have spent far more time on it but I promised that I would post the good, the bad, and the ugly.  You choose which category you want to put this one in!