This painting has been in a bit of a time-out. I was a little bit stuck in the messy middle. There are too many instructors in my head, telling me things like “loosen up” and “stop drawing with your paintbrush”.

After studying it a bit, I remembered who is the boss. The Central California artist is known for drawing details, having begun her art business with pencils, drawing cabins and homes and eventually landscapes in minute detail.

Now that she paints in oil, if she leaves out those details, she doesn’t like her paintings and her friends and family ask her if she is finished because it just doesn’t look right.

Allll-righty then.

There is still work to be done in the bark, branches, and upper leaves but now I believe this eventually will be worth signing. I don’t remember where I took the photos, but I know it was in Tulare County, most likely right here in Three Rivers.