Last fall on one of my bicycle trips through the
Orting Valley in Pierce County, Washington State, I snapped a picture of trees on the bank of the
Carbon River. Eventually, the photograph came forward and inspired this little 3x5 inch oil painting. The size is smaller than my usual small format paintings. There are many artists that paint even smaller using brushes with only one or two bristles and a toothpick. I don't have quite that much patience. Nevertheless, it took me a long time to develop this one to my liking. At first, the paint sunk in and created dull results. Since I like my paintings vibrant, I reworked it a second time after it was dry. The results were much better the second time over, but my next challenge was the photography. Not being a professional photographer by any means, I kept getting blurry results and the colors still seemed dull. Perhaps it is the size, perhaps the lighting in the gray depths of winter, but I've finally settled on this photo of my little painting. It is still much more attractive in person. When it finally dries, it will be listed for sale at
Small Impressions Gallery . I still have several of these 3x5 inch canvases in my studio. Perhaps I'll have to invest in some toothpicks and small brushes.
Technorati tags:
American Oil Painting, canvas panel, Carbon River, Contemporary Landscape Painting, Contemporary Oil Painting, Impressionist Landscape Painting, Miniature Art, Miniature Landscape, Miniature Oil Painting, Miniature Painting, Northwest Artist, Northwest Painter, Original small artwork, Orting Valley, Washington, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Northwest Artist, Pacific Northwest Painter, Pacific Northwest Painting, small format oil painting, small format painting, Small Oil Painting, small study, small tree painting, tree, Tree Group Painting, tree painting
This is the third in my recent series of apple paintings. All are quite different; all were fun to paint. This one was created with oil paint on an 8x8 inch stretched canvas. I like the bright red. When it is dry, I will sell it at Small Impressions Gallery along with some of my other small still life oil paintings. 
