Cherry Trees: Golden Gate Park, Winter Solstice, 2003

I helped Madeline with her open studio program in October. Her friend Blake was over from the East Coast and we talked about painting from nature. Madeline said that she would like to come with me some time and I told her that we should do the winter solstice. She happened to have a big design job on the East Coast at that time and was out of town, but I decided to go out and see what the park looked like anyway. I have never painted outdoors at this time of year and the light was extraordianry. The shadows were deep and dark. The sun slanted at an extreme angel and the foliage of the trees were illuminated with an intensity that I have never seen in the spring or summer. I think it's the angle of the sun. Instead of shining down on top, it shines from the side because it is low on the wouthern horizon all throughout winter.

		Sharon calls these the "Dancing Ladies". I have painted them in the spring time and I was stunned by the beauty of the fall foliage, touched as if by frrost on one side only.
		This area I call "The Green Man" because every time I paint here images of faces appear in the trees behind the cherry trees. They are subtle and don't really show up very well here, but they are there. I do not put them in 'consciously', rather, I am working to capture the hightlights and shadows in a kind of fever of color and light and working at a fast pace to finish before the light changes too much or it is gone completely. In the winter, that's very quick and when it's gone, everything really goes grey. The time limit is about 3 p.m in the afternoon. After that, everything is grey, grey, grey. When the 'green man' shows up, it's because of the place and I wonder about that.
		Another view of the "Dancing Ladies" on another day.