As I was saying in last week’s post, I often find that things I painted years ago no longer exist. When I went out to Sandhill Research and Education Center recently, I looked for peach trees that had bloomed in past springs, but the orchard had been uprooted.  I drove by a small clump of saw palmetto that had inspired a painting, and it held no attraction whatsoever.  The water lilies weren’t calling me this early in the season.  It was bit sad to not find inspiration in the usual places.

But as I parked at the Children’s Garden and walked around, I noticed the sun backlighting a yellow tree and making dappled shadow patterns on the ground.  So I set up my easel and started to paint.  That’s the challenge of plain air painting…. I never know what I will find, but it’s fun to look for different things highlighted by the change of seasons or the direction of the light.

If you would like to purchase this painting, it is available on Daily Paintworks.