#1230 "Spruce Forest"

#1230 "Spruce Forest" 14x11 Oils

I was painting with my friend and fantastic artist Lawrence Nickle in the early summer of 2012. On this outing we were on Reazin Road south of Burks Falls. Sometimes, something that looks like wilderness right beside the beaten path. 

The beaten path in this case was the very busy Highway 11 which was the four lane highway that was the thorough fare into Cottage Country. Reazin Road was a dead end and it afforded Lawrence and I a relatively quiet and undisturbed place to paint. 

Lawrence was ready to paint when I returned to Burks Falls so we headed out to Reazin Road again. This time I wanted to focus more on the trees than the forest. The spruce trees are characteristic of this area of Ontario and was my main attraction for this painting. The patch of daisies seemed to expand during the day. 

Lawrence would hold the panel on which he was painting in his left hand. The oils would invariably find their way on to his hands and legs and clothing. That is the way that oil paint is. The paint finds a way to spread itself around. The system that I developed over the years from trial and error, avoids almost all contact with the paint and I paint right to the very edge as well. The system is simple but it took me decades to perfect... I can be slow sometimes... 

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