Beech Spring

Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

This is the second in a series of four commissions I am painting for a client, all from the same spot, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, this being the spring version, as if you hadn't guessed!

Beech leaves are a spectacular sight at any time of year. Here, in May, they are fresh acid green, getting a deeper green tone in Summer, before transforming into the orange of Autumn - quite looking forward to painting that one! There is always a bed of composting old leaves at any time of year beneath beech trees, and I suggested these with lots of palette-knife work over a sticky underpaint. the same technique was used for some of the leaves nearer the viewer, too.