A Giant among Trees

Just a typical autumn day that really couldn't make its mind up what it wanted to do. A grey start. Sunny for a bit. Drizzled for a while, then sulked for a couple of hours. Given all that I wasn't sure what I was going to paint. I just wandered down the valley, waiting for something to catch my eye.

I saw this huge Lombardy Poplar near the river bank, and thought yes. Today we have an appointment with destiny big boy. But when I went to compose the painting I realised that I simply couldn't fit him in.

If I went far enough away to include the whole tree, everything else looked like the unkempt edge of an unmown lawn. If I made something of the foreground shrubs and willows, and included the nice line of the hills, I simply had to cut him off at the knees.

O heck. That's what I did in the end. A giant among trees.



15085. "A Giant Among Trees" oil on panel. 8x10in. $150

Any plein air painting from this blog may be purchased by emailing me at

rosswhitlock@inspire.net.nz


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