Daily Painting Practice- Tree color study - walks in the North Woods

Every artist knows of places where they feel they could spend the rest of their life painting and never run out of interesting subjects. 

For me it would be Maine or the North Woods of  Wisconsin. All I need to do is take a walk in the woods and the ideas start flooding in. But how to decide what to paint? 

 When you literally can't see the forest through the trees (or maybe it would be better to say, can't see the painting through the details),  I find it easier to  eliminate details and look for abstract shapes of light and dark.

 For example, I started this color study looking for abstract blotches of color to lay on the toned canvas. I was thinking of  trees  but painting them as abstract color notes. It was a good way to stay loose in the beginning and not get sucked into  details too early.

 Sorry about the  blurry photo. However, it is a good example of how you should  blur your eyes when painting as a way of eliminating detail and simplifying  values. 

click on the picture to enlarge the image

Walk in the Woods - Color Study

6"x6"

oil on canvas board