March 16th, 2013
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 12 x 16 in

I decided to focus on a tree trunk and paint it. I ran out of white last weekend and am still waiting for the new batch to arrive. In the meantime, I had only “underpainting white” to work with – a very different texture to what I’m used to. I wasn’t expecting this painting to come to much, was just doing a study – but it turned out surprisingly well. I post it here first on its own, then in context. It was a bit of a revelation to me, this painting – one of the very few paintings I’ve done outdoors with no sky or water. There’s a limited range of mute values in the objects I painted, and it’s amazing that you can still have a very tangible form, foreground and background within such a small gradient of tones. It was amazing to me, in any case. I learned something – for that reason I count this one of my very best. I reckon I produce one that I consider “great” (to me) about once every eight months. The previous “great,” IMO, was the July 4th 2012.