The Arboretum in Santa Cruz, CA is a wonderful place to paint a variety of exotic species nurtured by the UCSC horicultural students. Actually filmed in August, 2012, I painted an old and wonderous Eucalyptus tree. I had been meaning to paint this tree for a long time and originally started a painting in watercolor but never finished it. Here you can see my process in oil from start to finish.
Trees have been considered sacred, if we go way back in history. In about 800AD, there is a reference to Charlemagne destroying a temple that housed the wood of the famous Irminsul tree thought to be the "pillar of the universe which, supports all things." There are many references to sacred tree pillars in Celtic and German spirituality. Even if we don't think of trees as sacred today, we do feel the strength of the spirit of a very old and developed tree. Part of our fascination stems from our primordial roots where the Gods were thought to dwell in the sky. A tree trunk points our eyes into the heavens and then the branches spread out and appear to try and touch the essence of the sky. The tree that I painted at the Arboretum has beautiful curving branches that remind us how we try in our own lives to reach the heavens from many different angles and perspectives.