While it is no longer winter here in the mid Atlantic of the U.S., green leaves have not yet popped on the trees in my area. That means the hardwood forests have either no leaves or crispy dried leaves from last year that won’t drop until the new leaves pop out. On my hike in Prince William Forest a few days ago, I realized how beautiful some of the dead leaves can be when they dry to a soft orange color. One of the photos in my post from a few days ago seemed like a good inspiration for an oil painting. I knocked this small oil painting out this afternoon while waiting for the rain to stop.
Winter Foliage
10”x10” oil on canvas
Below are the original reference photo and the cropped photo I used for the painting. I started out trying to paint the original photo and about an hour in realized there was too much gravel and not enough focus on the bright tree at the turn of the road. After wiping off the first hour’s paint and starting over, this took about two hours to finish. Hopefully the cropped reference provided a better focal point for the painting. I hope you like it.
Cropped Reference Photo
Original Photo
