The Fallen

This was painted at the Burnaby mountain park. Again, it took a while to 'find' a good composition. Of course, a highly skilled painter would be able to find a mediocre view and create his unique design from elements that are surrounding him/her, like setting up a still life. For me, I need to find a design that's at least 80% to perfection. In this case, the woods was not nearly as dense, and the blue distant mountain was not visible in this angle. I did those changes for creating a better design.

The Fallen (Heather named this one) - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

I feel like I was with Ivan Shishkin sitting in the woods together. Shishkin was an amazing Russian landscape painter who painted many forest scenes in superb draftsmanship. He was able to render super complex views into a pleasing image. Some people may some that it's not as poetic with that level of details, but his skills were without a doubt and should be studied for someone like me.

Ivan Shishkin - Forest

Ivan Shishkin - Dark Forest - 1890

I am starting to grow fond of trees. They have so much character and textures in them. The colours are so obvious I don't feel like I am inventing anything, just paint what I see and I get a brilliant gamut of color variation that is so satisfying.