Art & Design Magazine

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees

By Artbycedar

This series of six original acrylic paintings is based on photos I took on a recent trip to the redwood forests in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park in California.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through TreesRedwood Forest Paintings by Cedar Lee

In this location, besides the ancient coastal redwood trees, you can also find rhododendrons along the trails, as well as carpets of huge ferns on the forest floor.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Redwood forest paintings by Cedar Lee

The dramatic play between light and shadow is featured in all of these paintings.

“Heart in the Canopy” shows the shape of a heart in the negative space between the treetops.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Heart in the Canopy. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Heart in the Canopy. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

It’s always fun to find a heart shape when exploring in nature, which we can choose to take as a reminder that love is always surrounding us.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees

Detail: Heart in the Canopy. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The scale is 36″ tall by 12″ wide.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Artist with art: Heart in the Canopy. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

This mockup helps to envision what this painting might look like as part of an elegant room design.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art by Cedar Lee in interior space: Heart in the Canopy. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

In “Redwoods and Ferns 1,” the foreground is dominated by the trunk of a giant redwood tree.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Redwoods and Ferns 1. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

This tree curves in an interesting way as it reaches so high up into the sky.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Redwoods and Ferns 1. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The sun peeks through the foliage from the center of the painting, and bright white sunlight softens the edges of the trees with its glow.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Redwoods and Ferns 1. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Redwoods and Ferns 1. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The scale is 36″ x 12″.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Artist with art: Redwoods and Ferns 1. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

Mockup of this artwork in an interior space:

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art By Cedar Lee in interior space: Redwoods and Ferns 1. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

“Sunlit Rhododendron” features a beautiful canopy of rhododendron leaves in the undergrowth of the forest, lit up by the sun.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The taller trees in the forest are hinted at in the far distance.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Artist with art: Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

In the intricate details of the beautiful fans of leaves, you can see the veins of the leaves, and the way the light shines through less in spots where leaves overlap each other, so that the image contains a variety of shades of green, from an almost neon yellow to a very dark, deep forest green.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

Mockup:

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art by Cedar Lee in interior space: Sunlit Rhododendron. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

In “Redwoods and Ferns 2,” our eyes are first drawn to the ferns on the forest floor in the foreground.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Redwoods and Ferns 2. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Redwoods and Ferns 2. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Redwoods and Ferns 2. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

Then, the perspective of the tall tree trunks zooming up into the sky draws our eyes into the background and up to the top of the painting.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Redwoods and Ferns 2. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The warm sunlight shining from behind the trees lights up all the foliage in the center of the painting in bright yellow!

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Artist with art: Redwoods and Ferns 2. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

Mockup:

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art by Cedar Lee in interior space: Redwoods and Ferns 2. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

“Convergence in the Sky” shows the one-point perspective of many tall, thin tree trunks appearing to converge towards the center as they reach into the sky.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Convergence in the Sky. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The sun is behind the trees at the top of the canvas, visually obliterating parts of the tree trunks as it shines through the trees.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Convergence in the Sky. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

Because the trees at the top of the painting are back-lit by the sun behind them, they are dark in color, some appearing almost as black silhouettes.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Artist with art: Convergence in the Sky. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

In contrast, the sun is lighting up the tree trunks on the bottom of the painting, so that they appear very light and bright.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Convergence in the Sky. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Convergence in the Sky. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

Mockup:

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art by Cedar Lee in interior space: Convergence in the Sky. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

In “Towers in the Mist,” a giant dark tree trunk fills the center of the painting, in high contrast against the bright hazy atmosphere filling the rest of the painting.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

The tops of the trees are soft green shapes in the fog high above us.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art in Cedar Lee painting studio: Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

You can feel that the morning mist is going to evaporate from the heat of the day’s bright sunshine.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee
Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Detail: Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

This painting gives the feeling of breathing the fresh clean air of the forest.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Artist with art: Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

All of these paintings, with their vertical format and medium size, are perfect for filling a spot where you have a tall, narrow wall.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Art by Cedar Lee in interior space: Towers in the Mist. 36″ x 12″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2023 Cedar Lee

They can also be displayed together in endless configurations.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Redwood forest paintings by Cedar Lee

You can get custom prints of these images in the perfect size to fit your space.

Contact me with any questions about the original paintings or prints.

Vertical Green Forest Paintings and Art Prints | Redwoods Art | Sunlight Shining Through Trees
Redwood forest paintings by Cedar Lee

Looking at these paintings is like looking through windows into the forest, bringing the beauty of nature indoors!


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