I call this painting “Wonderment” because I would be awestruck to be there under this tree, in this landscape, during the moment of a solar eclipse!
I love the slant of the thick green tree canopy which makes it seem like there is a breeze in the air, and the way the roots grip the ground like huge fingers.
Wonderment. 10″ x 8″, Oil on Canvas, © 2013 Cedar Lee
I had a lot of fun with the details of this painting. I take particular pleasure in the brilliant solar eclipse with its diamond ring effect, and in the sky, the tiny sparkling stars shining through the many-colored clouds of atmosphere.
Detail: Wonderment. 10″ x 8″, Oil on Canvas, © 2013 Cedar Lee
That hazy little silhouette of a tree in the distance, in my mind, is a faraway sister to the tree in the foreground, an echo of similar shapes which hints at the shared experience of everyone witnessing the eclipse.
Detail: Wonderment. 10″ x 8″, Oil on Canvas, © 2013 Cedar Lee
You might have also noticed a new motif I’ve been playing with in some of my recent paintings–the pattern of rocks and pebbles between the roots that are growing down into the ground.
Detail: Wonderment. 10″ x 8″, Oil on Canvas, © 2013 Cedar Lee
I feel that showing so much of the tree’s root system weaving between the rocks makes the tree seem extra grounded in the earth.
