Art & Design Magazine

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork

By Artbycedar

Here is “Emerald Day.”

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature ArtworkArtist with art: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

While walking my dog, I recently took some photos looking up into the tree canopy in a stand of Douglas firs in a beautiful dog park near my home.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

I go to this park regularly, and look at these woods almost every day, but only occasionally do I take photos.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

The visual composition of one of my photos made me really want to paint it, because of the negative shapes of the bright sky between the treetops, and the darker shapes of the trees all reaching upwards together into the sky.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Artist with art: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

But unlike a more realistic depiction of this view, I had a mental image of these almost peacock-like colors, a vibrant emerald green and a deep teal blue.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Detail: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

I felt strongly compelled to paint these trees in this unconventional color scheme, so I did!

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Detail: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

I first toned the whole canvas with a bright peacock blue, so that this color would pop through from under subsequent layers of color.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Detail: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

The treetops are soft and hazy, the color becoming more important than the detail of the branches and leaves.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Detail: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

The white light from the sky comes through the foliage in some parts of the painting as small chicken-scratch brush strokes.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Detail: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

You can enjoy this painting as a depiction of the forest, but you can also appreciate the intentional use of vibrant color and the interesting playful effects created with paint and varied mark-making.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Detail: Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

It is a piece of art that gives you many things to look at and different ways of seeing it the more you look.

Emerald Day | Blue and Green Modern Nature Artwork
Emerald Day. 36” x 36”, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2022 Cedar Lee

Contact me if you’re interested in purchasing the original or a print of this image.


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