Eucalyptus Tree at Elysian Park, LA.

There’s no shortage of inspiration in California. It’s almost unfair to the rest of the landscape painters out there. This eucalyptus stands in Elysian Park, a few minutes from downtown LA, and I painted it in one morning sitting on our 2020 trip. I made it as a study: small, quick, and honest about the light, so I could carry the idea home and paint it larger in the studio back in Canada. Studies like this are where the real decisions get made. The big version only works if the small one does.

• Original oil on birch panel, 12 × 9 in.
• Painted en plein air at Elysian Park, Los Angeles, February 2020
• One sitting on location, not reworked in the studio
• Varnished with Gamvar for archival protection
• Ships unframed and wired; floater frame optional