I painted this based on a photo I took on a warm morning driving around the farmland of Skagit Valley earlier in the week before a class with Teresa Saia. Something caught my eye about the group of trees and I knew immediately this was what I wanted to paint. I've been painting the past four years and always wanted to do landscapes, but trees were problematic and scary and I was always getting frustrated. Think, for me, the turning point was in a class with Susan Ogilvie last year, she said to simplify the shapes and not try and draw everything I see, and it finally clicked in my head how to do it. So now, I feel pretty comfortable painting landscapes. I love painting just the impressions of a forest or a clump of trees, and then gently and gradually laying down the warm and cool colors on top to give the feeling of volume and depth and light. Then, the deepest darks in the shadows really are fun to put in last.
Sharon Eckhardt
Age: 51
"Trees on June Morning"
Pastel on La Carte paper 12x19
June 2009
