Summer Trees landscape painting

SUMMER TREES, a landscape painting with tall trees casting shadows upon a neighborhood.

More than anything, this is a painting of trees, the tall arching elms and maples in summer. A street runs through this landscape painting and, as we are standing on the left shoulder, the road veers to the left. Tall, old trees stand high and shade the street. Afternoon sunlight dapples the trees and the street. The trees glow in a vivid yellow green and hide in deep shadow. Along the low horizon, the neighborhood houses appear along with cars and landscaping.

This is a summer painting of how I would imagine my childhood except that the cars are newer. For me, this is fine art as I generally love tall, shadowy trees. But the story of the location itself is more shadowy than sunny.

This is not out in the country but a suburban neighborhood. I had started a painting of a gas station that I thought would appeal to me but it was not working out. It was mid-summer and pretty warm outside. As I was sitting on the opposing corner of a busy street, trying to make the painting work, I saw this scene down the road. Almost every place that I paint, I find other scenes that also grab my attention but I do not have the time to pursue them. Instead, I make a mental note of the location and, maybe, one day, I’ll return. In this case, the tall trees, glowing sunlight and deep shadows appealed to me much more than a suburban gas station on a busy street. As I painted the houses and the trees, neighbors came out and talked to me. This usually happens. Sometimes it is of no consequence, but this time it was and a strange story emerged. All of these houses were condemned.

Our fair city had major flooding problems whenever we had a major rainfall. A massive sewer project was to alleviate that problem but it created a number of other problems that they did not foresee. The people of this neighborhood told me that, although they had a creek running near them, they had never experienced flooding until the new sewer project was completed. Then, in two years time, they had their basements flooded twice. The county government had now bought them out and they were being forced to move. Instead, the park that was behind them would be expanded and the houses demolished. Change happens not only more often than we expect, but it’s happened a number of times while I’ve been painting. At least I got the painting done and some of the trees still stand.

As I’ve said, this is one of my favorites. I like almost everything about this painting, but it is the way the trees glow that I love move than anything. The vibrant yellows that are slightly green and the deep shadows, the sunlight dappled street and the tall trees that make even the houses look small, all of it creates a sense of realism that i don’t see very often in art. I like the red car and the lawn furniture in front of it. Interestingly, I had expected to paint a few people who were sitting in the lawn chairs into the painting. But once they saw I was painting them, they left.

Other works of Fine Art you may enjoy:

The Connections Of Mary Cassatt

Bend In the River, an oil painting

Silence In the City, a cityscape painting