First Sign of Spring

5" x 7" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD


We have a large crab apple tree next to our deck. For two weeks every April (unless we have a late, heavy snow) we have gorgeous blossoms. The tree is just starting to bud and leaf (this is the first sign of any flower at all in our yard.) I've done several blossom paintings in past years that I really like, and this year thought I'd chronicle the growth and development of the blossoms in my daily paintings; maybe every other day. In the fall the tree has lots of small crab apples and beautiful colored leaves. The trunk of the tree is in our yard, but many of the branches hang over the fence and, when the apples fall, attract animals. We have come home at night to a bear sitting next to the garage eating the apples and refusing to move. Of course, we waited for him to leave before we got out of the car.


The apple blossoms will be pink, so I toned my canvas in pink, which I don't think I've ever used before. For landscapes I usually tone with cad yellow deep, yellow ochre, or red. For still lifes I usually choose a complementary color. I like the way the pink shows through on this. This piece is so small, and the leaves and buds almost abstract, I really had to just look at the color, put the color note down. As Monet said "When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you...merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you."