Bonsai Near Cedar Creek, Shenandoah County, Virginia, oil on canvas by Paul Zdepski
This was painted on location between 6 and 8 am on two Saturdays in June of 2007. two weeks. I use my French easel for my main paint box, and toss it into the back of my Prelude with a tarp, brushes rolled in a bamboo slated sushi roller and few rags. I like to work in oil, so a turpentine brush can has to be secured into the trunk too. This tree is a lightning strike with poison ivy growing up its side. I had driven past it daily for weeks and weeks, with a nagging feeling that I should be painting it before the road department took it down. It’s a year later, and VDOT has yet to touch it. It’s still a favorite item spot of mine. This piece shows the lush Virginia countryside in it’s early summer greenery, just prior to the first hay cuttings of June. It has now found a home in the Meisner's beautiful home down the Blue Ridge above the James River.
