Blue Pines

Blue Pines

24" x 24"  acrylic on canvas
This is for sale - contact me for price if interested.

I became fascinated with this view of 'two dead pine trees growing out of some rocks with a lake and a grove of backlit trees' during the summer, after taking some photos of that scene when visiting my good friend Kate at her cottage on Weslemkoon Lake in Ontario. The first version, called Summer Pines (posted in July), was larger, rectangular in format, and more abstract and whimsical in colour - and I have to say that I love it.

Summer Pines

 I started another version soon after and began with the easy changes, to format (square) and palette (analagous: blue, green, yellow). I then started painting the background trees and foliage, and liked how it was evolving and looked - more abstract and painterly. 

stage 1

However, the trees, rocks and water were proving a challenge, so I in frustration I decided to leave the painting for a few days (which turned into weeks), hoping that inspiration, or an idea, or a greater willingness to risk something new, would eventually occur. Sometimes that works. Last week my gaze wandered to this canvas stacked against the wall with others, and I realized how to finish it - by making changes to the foliage, and to just keep painting. Which is what I did, thoroughly enjoying the process. And I love it, too.

Weslemkoon Pines

Weslemkoon Pines

16" x 20"  - acrylic on canvas  

This is for sale - contact me for price if interested.

This is the second painting based on a photo I took while visiting my friend MK at her cottage on Westlemkoon Lake.

I worked on this painting at the same time I worked on Mystic Light, and while this one may look less abstract, it is similar in its pared down simplicity. I was really happy with how this one came together. I love the pine trees, and despite the absence of signs of growth and life (green pine needles), they still appear vital and strong through colour and light.