I was attracted to this scene because of it's contrasts. I was very excited about painting the guy on the left, that spot of light on his shoulder was the best part.
I felt so free with this one. I was more concerned with the illusion of light and the feeling of the trees, rather than the particular shapes and details.
Zach and I went to Pismo beach and up to Hearst Castle for our New Years weekend getaway. We stopped at the butterfly grove...I heard it was amazing. We came prepared with binoculars, but I think we only saw like 20 butterflies! Disappointing! Luckily we had lots of other things to do. And the light while we were there was just gorgeous.
There's something so wonderful about these trees, this is my second try at capturing them in paint. I'm much happier with this attempt. I approached it differently than I normally do, I started with what I can only call a "fuzzy" underpainting. Sometimes I don't work with an underpainting at all, and other times it's completely necessary, and I can't really explain why...this is why I'm not a...
