When I went out for this painting, the sky looked very promising, with the sun popping through the clouds. I had set up the easel to paint this tree. Then, before I really started painting, I drank a bit of coffee and took a moment to just look at what was in front of me. And while I was doing so, more and more clouds appeared, and it turned into a very overcast morning instead.
I could still paint what I had seen before, with the epic bright morning sunlight, and ignore the moment, but the new atmosphere was interesting as well. The high contrasts between light and dark disappeared, but instead a lot of subtle color variations in the tree and surroundings became visible. All kinds of muted earth colors stepped forward. So, in the end, I’m glad I went along with the flow of the moment.
