Lit Up | Forest Painting with Leaves in Sunlight

By Artbycedar

Here is “Lit Up.”

Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

This painting was inspired by this photo I took on a forest hike during a road trip through California last summer. When I walk through a forest, I cannot resist taking photos anytime I see something striking. Most of the photos I take don’t directly end up as paintings, but I save them and they keep the imagery wheels turning in my mind. When I go back to scroll through them, sometimes one of them jumps out at me and tells me that it needs to be a painting!

Reference photo for painting “Lit Up” © 2022 Cedar Lee

The impossibly bright sky behind the impossibly tall trees is an image that makes the heart soar.

Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

In the foreground, the deciduous leaves closer to the forest floor pick up the light of the sun. In the painting, I push the bright colors of the sunlit leaves into an almost neon yellow for dramatic impact.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

The large leaves in the foreground are a contrast of the tiny branches of the redwoods in the distance, so far above us that we cannot see the details.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee Cedar Lee working on painting: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

The sun bursts around the edge of one of the trees, visually erasing part of the tree trunk as the sunlight takes over.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

The small branches in corner are painted in unexpected blue and purple tones.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

Rough brush strokes hint at the roughly textured bark of the redwood trees.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

This painting is made on a heavy cradled wooden panel. The edges are 2.5″ deep, which makes the painting protrude from the wall dramatically.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

It is a light, bright, airy, sunny image.

Detail: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee

Feel free to contact me with any questions about purchasing the original, or if you’d like to order a print of this painting.

Artist in studio with painting: Lit Up. 30″ x 30″, Acrylic on Wood, © 2022 Cedar Lee