Picea Pendula

My last few art lessons have been en plein air in the UW Arboretum. Each meeting has been challenging due to unforeseen factors-- last time around because of an unrelenting massive swarm of mosquitos, and lack of deet. Tonight we arrived fully prepared with bug spray and citronella, but as we got set up and started painting, menacingly dark storm clouds appeared in the near distance.

We laughed that it would actually be a good exercise for me in getting the base drawing done quickly. As I worked, my art teacher looked at the radar on his phone, and showed me the massive storm system heading our way. Right about then the heavens opened up, we scrambled to get our stuff under a tree, my easel fell over and painted the grass a lovely array of Prussian Blue to Hansa Yellow Light, and we soggily peered out at a landscape that looked like this:

 

Since we were soaked we decided to put on our hats and roam around in the rain studying value change over distance, and I saw the most amazing tree- an evergreen that looked like a weeping willow. I think it might have been a Picea Pendula (Weeping Norway Spruce). I decided to explore, and was rewarded with the coolest natural tree fort ever:

 



I kind of wish I could go back at night with some tea lights and hang out under the illuminated branches!

The rain eventually subsided, and I was able to get a good start on the painting by the end of the evening. Haha!