Tuesday, March 10, 2009


Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall ~ I decided to try and paint a series of small trees in acrylics in each of the seasons. These are both 4 x 6 inches on watercolor paper. I guess you can tell which season these are and yep, I was influenced by that 8 inches of lovely snow we got last Monday. Now I have pairs of the other three seasons to go. I recently bought a jar of Liquitex mat gel medium and I wasn't sure how I would like it until tonight. I brushed a coat of it over these two paintings and I love the soft, matted buttery finish it gives to the surface of the paint! I really like it much better than the glossy finish I was using before. Speaking of trees, check out these fantastical tree photos in Katie Jane's blog!

I captured this very large black crow up in the tree after we had the snow storm. They are really huge birds and at first I thought he was our ring-tailed hawk up there. Sometimes I throw old pieces of bread out at the back of the yard and they will clumsily hop around, spear a piece of bread and fly with it up into the tree. They are fun to watch!


10 comments:

~Babs said...

OHMIGOSH,,,just look how you captured those beautiful drifts with your brush! Good to see some trees again Lynnie,I will be eager to see the other seasons. I've been missing them.
LOVED those tree photos over at Kate's, they are great too!

We see lots of those big 'ol black birds at the lake. I have a fake one wired up in a tree by the porch there. He surprises a lot of people,,,,even me when I forget! Creepy!

~Babs said...

PS: I love that blooming tree the bird's in,,,,is it a Magnolia tree?

good grief,,,my word verification thing is: hershies. Now I gotta have chocolate!
#:-D

Lynette said...

Aww thanks so much Babs, I missed painting my little trees and knew that's what I needed to do to get motivated again. LOLOL, "Hershies" that is soo funny!! I've been getting weird words on the wv things too lately. That tree with the crow is the yellow tulip poplar tree out in the back yard. I looked them up and they are somehow related to the magnolia trees. It has these big strange looking yellow flowers things that bloom in it in the springtime. I would love to see a picture of your fake crow up at the lake, I bet he looks neat!

Genie said...

some beautiful work Lyn

Unknown said...

That's a great idea for a series, Lynette, and looking at your lovely, snowy, Christmas trees makes me feel a bit cooler!

I shouldn't complain though -- we got about five minutes of rain this morning. The first in I-don't-know-how-many weeks!

We have 'gackles' here -- not crows. They're about the same size and color, but crows are much prettier and more mysterious, I think. The gackles mostly just make an ungodly racket and drop poo on unsuspecting tourists!

Glad to hear that you like the Liquitex. I've been wanting to mount giclees on board, and thought I'd try putting a matte Liquitex finish on them. Soon, I hope.

Have an amazing day!

Katiejane said...

Hey, thanks for the plug! Aren't those COOL trees? I love your Christmas trees. I use that Liquitex matte medium, too and I really like the finish it gives everything. I also have the gloss, but I find I use the matte more often.
So sorry you got dumped with more snow. We reached 77 yesterday, but now it's more normal, in the 40's.

Anonymous said...

Christmas already?? Is it your favorite holiday?

Nice paintings, Lynette!

Janets Planet said...

Oh Noes! It isnt Christmas yet, is it? :-)

Finally had some birds in our back yard the other day. Was beginning to wonder.

Lynette said...

Thanks so much Genie!
Heey Wendy, thanks and I bet your giclees will have a wonderful finish with that mat Liquitex finish. Ha, I'm glad ya got some rain!
Katie, you're so welcome, I just had to share those fantastic trees you had in your blog post, thanks so much!
LOL Cyn, nooo I'm not ready for Christmas yet, although it is my fave holiday. I was going to do trees in each of the seasons and those are the winter trees. Now I need to start on the spring ones! :)
Hehe Janet, no no Christmas, I couldn't stand it coming so soon again. I'm gonna decorate my trees with ribbons. I guess those 2 did look Christmasy though. :p Spring is coming soon, I just know it is, although it's supposed to snow here tomorrow morn, yikes!

fennymun said...

it's a pity that we only see birds occassionally here, just wonder where have they gone... I guess one could easily spend a day simply by watching them flying back and forth for bread... :)