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Monday, March 2, 2009

Rhythm of the Pine

Pine   watercolor   9.5 x 7
I have relented. We are painting landscapes in watercolor class. Most painters love them. I never have. When I first began painting in watercolor, the medium was fully represented by rustic barns, ramshackle buildings and marine settings. These subjects became kitsch-y to me. But....back by popular demand....landscapes! As a result, I have been studying trees. Lucky for me, my husband is a tree-hugger and we have vast quantities of tree photographs stored up. On "tree night" we painted a variety of trees. Each variety has its own posture, its own rhythm. Branch formation on a pine tree dances in a figure-8 formation. My six-year-old brain remembered only the color of the branches and the overall shape of the tree, an approximate triangle. I was happy to draw the conclusion......