A Little Bit Creepy

Trees. Ah, yes. How I love trees. I’ve always struggled with drawing them, so it makes sense that I would also struggle with painting them. The challenge of depicting trees in my landscape art has become even more interesting now as I move away from realism toward a more impressionistic style of art.

That certainly hasn’t stopped me from painting trees. Maybe it should. This most recent tree — a fun practice piece for creating a hazy atmosphere — turned out just a little bit creepy.

I’m calling it The Witch Tree because I can see her scraggly twig-filled arms reaching out to snatch up some unsuspecting child who ventures too near. I can even hear her wicked laughter as the wind howls through the almost-bare branches.

This was fun, and even though it was only for practice and I’d planned to re-use the canvas, I think I might keep my Witch Tree. It’s definitely different from most of my art. I think it deserves to be preserved. Or maybe I’m just frightened to think what that old witch tree might do to me if I ever tried to paint over her.