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Early Morning on the Quad, oil on canvas. Available.

In last month's blog I described a day of painting the cherry blossoms on the quad at Bucknell University and the movement of the light throughout the day. I was using ink and watercolors to capture as many scenes as I could.

Bucknell Cherry Blossoms, 10 a.m., watercolor & ink. Available.

Bucknell Cherry Blossoms, 3 p.m., watercolor & ink. Available.

You can see more of the watercolors here.

At the end of the day, I knew there were more cherry blossom paintings in me and I was eager to try them in oils. Rain was forecast for the next week and the blossoms don't last long so I decided to make studio paintings instead of working en plein air. This isn't my typical way of working, so it was a challenge, but, having painted these trees many times gave me the confidence to try. 

Here are the resulting two oil paintings.

The first one shows the first rays of light on distant blossoms and long shadows of early morning, and conveys the feeling of being the only person up and about.

Early Morning on the Quad, oil. Available.

The next painting is about the afternoon sunlight on the blossoms. I used warmer colors than in the early morning painting above. I wanted to give the scene just enough life and context (students, library door, clock tower) without taking your attention away from the blossoms.

Cherry Trees and Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, oil. Available.

I'd love to know if these paintings resonate with you (contact me or leave a comment below), and, if you should know of flowering trees I could paint next spring, please drop me a line!

Thank you for reading!