TREE IN THE LOWER PASTURE

Watch this time lapse video that was made using a GoPro HERO4 Camera

Prints of this painting can be purchased here now: http://www.inprnt.com/gallery/jeremiahjolliff/

An Original Oil Painting executed en plein air by Fine Artist Jeremiah Jolliff

Painting trees is a tall order.  Perhaps it is not only one of the most challenging ventures but also perhaps the most rewarding.  There are myriad braches, leaves, clusters of leaves, and sky in the everyday deciduous tree.  There is an English idiom often heard: “Can’t see the forest for the trees.”  That phrase is accurate enough and applies in this situation albiet: “Can’t see the tree for all the leaves.”  It is a nagging tendency to become so lost in the clusters of leaves that one must be present in mind to veer away from such an inundating avalanche of herbage.

The best advice is to squint down and stay true to the position of the sky penetrating through the foliage and and the outline of the tree.  In the book Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting, Richard Schmid advises on squinting: “Learn this and you’re home free! It is one of the most valuable skills you can have.  Why?  Because your most fundamental technical problem in “getting it right” is to simplify what you see.”

Keeping things simple will pay dividends for the painter and fine artist in generally.  Grappbing onto these essentials is the most basic fundamental in art making.  From drawing to painting and even in scultpure, starting with the biggest structure and moving down to the most beautified detail, the fine artist always has to begin at the begining by defining the large masses and relationships and continually fortifying the whole until the highest and most exquisite beauty can be achieved.  It is easy to become bedeviled with infatuations but in order to become a master, one must practice mindfulness.