Earlier this month I wrote about how I have always loved trees (link to my blog post : "Trees and Forests") and I mentioned that I would be attending a Guided Walk at the Dominion Arboretum this Sunday. Here are some photos from today:
The tour leaders were Owen Clarkin and Roman Popadiouk. Owen Clarkin's enthusiasm for everything about trees was infectious. He and his colleague Roman (who has a PhD in Forest Ecology from Moscow University) shared their knowledge with the large crowd.
The map above is the detailed area where the first part of our tour took place. The group of folks that attended the tour was quite large and many were taking notes and photographs. There were lots of questions that our two tour guides were very happy to answer.
Due diligence
Tour guide Owen Clarkin
The trees have labels with their common name (in e/f)
and their latin name
The group explored the Arboretum and examined the many kinds of trees we encountered such as white poplar, silver willow, bald cypress, paperback maple, common hackberry, blue Colorado spruce, Japanese larch, easter white pine, jack pine, red pine, Ponderosa pine etc to name a few.
Artist David W. Jones in the group (upper right) listening to Owen Clarkin
I had attended this delightful tree tour because of an email invitation from my "Plein Air Tuesday" art teacher David W. Jones.
I met David at the arboretum and he told me of a video that existed of him painting at the Dominion Arboretum. David has painted at the arboretum many times.
I thought this video of David would be a perfect way to close this blog post about the amazing trees that can be seen at the Dominion Arboretum.
Google image of Morningside Lane around the Central Experimental Farm
I started, as I always do, by creating some quick and loose sketches of potential compositions.
I was immediately drawn to the image of the red barn with its silo right next to Morningside Lane. I loved the red and green together and the "mower lines" in the grass that would form the foreground and two-thirds of my panting's composition.
I had to edit a lot of details out from my view: the fenced in storage area in front of the barn and the tree on the left that blocked my ability to see the full silo ( I later had to capture the silo details from another angle where David Jones had set up his easel. See below)
My "Red Barn" painting in progress
David Jones' easel offering an unobstructed view of the silo
For my afternoon painting, I decided to let the cloudy sky dominate half of my composition with the quilt like patches of corn fields and canola fields forming the other half in the foreground.
My quick and loose sketch and setting up my easel to start
I wrapped up the painting session earlier than scheduled because in the distance I could see cows grazing in one of the fields and I really wanted to stop and do some quick sketches and photograph them. I love ALL farm animals, but, I have special affection for cows and horses. I could sit and sketch them all day.
