Birch Reflections

Artist's Gallery

Birch Trees by Water

My favorite feature in the Fast and Fun Landscaping book was its clarity: color pictures showed every stage, step-by-step, of every single project. I did at least half of the twenty paintings in the book, and learned a lot from each one. These birch trees were really interesting to paint, with the dark triangles where bark is peeling off. I painted the reflections at the same time, only a little lighter (and upside down!). Following the directions, I put a white wash on the lighter side of each trunk when they were dry. They look like they’ll jump off the picture! And those leaves are done with a fan brush again. This is a great method for painting trees—and that’s one of my toughest subjects!