Hilltop Giants in Spring

Ancient conifers stand in a hillside clearing on a cool and sunny day as a faint breeze stirs their branches. It can be tricky to create a good sense of scale in a painting - how does one convey the concept of a tree that stands over 200-feet tall on a canvas less than 2-feet tall? Relative sizing works well, as does putting in extra detail - the mind reads the thick, fluted and gnarled trunks as large and ancient.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Redwoods by the River

Redwood trees fascinate me. Both redwoods and giant sequoias (which are closely related) dwarf any other lifeform on the planet, and both species can live to incredible ages. It is not uncommon to find redwoods or sequoias that are over 1,000 years old. Unfortunately, for all of their incredible size and longevity, they are both somewhat picky in where they can grow, hence we won't be seeing ancient redwood forests here in Maryland any time soon.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Redwood Path

Here's my latest painting, inspired by the article about redwood trees in the October 2009 issue of the National Geographic. While I've never been to the redwood forests, I'd like to go there someday and walk in the shadows of the huge, ancient trees that stretch to the sky. The path in this painting wanders amid the giants, leading one through a silent forest that has stood for thousands of years.

Acrylic painting, 14" x 17" (framed, SOLD)