Grand View Ranch Spring Runoff

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The spring melt has begun at The Grand View Ranch, and the many creeks that surround our ranch are bursting with water. The oak trees that flank the creek banks are like islands surrounded by rushing water and everything is holding on tight trying not to be swept away.

The forest is a place of peace, a sanctuary, a wonderfully balanced ecosystem.
When I enter a forest, I am aware of an eloquent silence with a myriad of pleasant sounds that seem to hang in the air. The mighty old oak trees with their rugged moss-laden trunks and twisted branches are the stalwart guardians of the forest. They welcome me into their home with their branches reaching high above, meeting in a cathedral style arch overhead. As the morning light shines down through the trees, the leaves reflect the glow causing millions of dancing shadows and golden-flecked spots of light to fall upon the thickly covered forest floor. Hundreds of tiny little eyes gleam timidly from their refuges; they sit motionless, their small ears alert to determine the intention of an intruder.

Every tree has a personality, yet it is common for a painter to take them for granted. Beginning painters paint trees and the forest as a heterogeneous multitude of vertical sticks with some horizontal green strokes to simulate branches. Trees and forests are more than just objects to paint to fill up a canvas, or be painted in a flip, blasé manner that detracts from a viewer’s serious appreciation of their beauty. Painting trees involves more than merely slap sticking a #2 fan brush across a vertical line and hoping that the viewer will get the message. Trees must be studied on location, and the best way to do this is to take a pencil to paper and draw them. One good pencil drawing detailing every branch of the tree will teach you everything that you need to know about painting trees.I hope that we can build a community of artists that can share information with each other.

If you know of any artists that might appreciate being included, let them know about this blog.

I hope to offer more painting tips as this conversation continues.

If you have questions that you would like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to email me anytime. I welcome your feedback. Stefan_Baumann@yahoo.com