Palm Tree

I recently painted this palm as practice for a larger commissioned piece.  This is what I’ve learned about painting palms.  First, I try to truly see and capture the direction in which each individual frond is moving.  Second, I pay attention to the direction in which the leaves on each frond are moving; of course, I don’t try to draw each and very individual leaf that exists, but I do try to capture the major sections.  Third, I try to see and capture all the unique colors in the palms; there actually are a lot of different greens (yellow-greens, orange-greens, white-greens), as well as browns and oranges.  Fourth, after I paint the palm, I add the light sky around the palm.  Finally, I re-touch the palm as needed and work it into the sky.