#2709 "Sugar Maple Tree Tunnel in Autumn"

#2709 "Sugar Maple Tree Tunnel in Autumn"
12x10 by 1/2 inch panel oils

The cloud edge described in #2708 "Back-Lit Sunrise Autumn Maple" was close but it still had not arrived so I decided to try another, brilliantly illuminated scene of the Singleton Sanctuary Forest. I have painted this pair of sugar maples to the right before. I have even painted the sugar maples that lined the tree tunnel to the left several times. I do not need to go very far for inspiration. 

The overcast skies arrived when I was pretty much done. A few touch-ups could be done later. The next rain band would arrive around 2 pm even though it was fairly close even at 11 am when I finished. Cold lows are interesting weather phenomena to predict. Sunny skies and be replaced by overcast clouds and heavy rain several times in the course of a single day. As an aside, I saw a really large and interesting walking stick while I painted. 

A beautiful rainbow finished the day. This rainbow displayed the supernumerary bows below the violet band. The cold low raindrops are not perfect prisms and the sun is not a point source of light either (about half of a degree in diameter). Raindrops have round sides and are not even perfectly spherical. As a result, the light entering the raindrops is refracted at different angles, reflected inside the drop at different angles again only to be refracted again at different angles upon emerging back into the atmosphere. The colours of the rainbow are spread out from the narrow concentrated band that is the average of the raindrop geometry. The supernumerary arcs of colour at the bottom of the rainbow are the result of the rainbow colours being spread out along with the interference patterns that result when waves and particles interact. It is enough to simply enjoy the show though. I do like to understand the physics though. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick