Palm Trees (SOLD)

I visit the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens on occasion to enjoy the tropical environment. During the winter the lush foliage is a pleasure to paint when the landscape outside is so desolate. The Palm dome is the large dome in the center of the greenhouse, at the front entrance. According to their website, it was the third largest public greenhouse in the US when it was first built in 1900.

I started this painting by drawing it in pencil and the first few layers of paint were thin washes. The windows could be rather tedious to paint but I thought that they should be handled in a subtle manner because the subject of the painting is the palm tree. I used a wash of blue for the sky and most of the structure of the dome was indicated with pencil lines. What makes this painting work is the contrast; there’s the dark green shadows of the palms, the white of the dome, and bright yellow green of the sunlit leaves.