The Lone Cypress Print

On a cold and misty June morning, I was hunting for photo opportunities along 17 Mile Drive in Carmel California. On this particular morning, a fog rolled between the trees and crawled up the road. I was in a rental car that had a poor window defogger so I decided to pull off the road at the next viewpoint. When I got out of the car the damp air and cold wind chilled me inside and out. I walked down a gravel path lined with juniper bush and cypress trees to an overlook of the ocean and peered over a waist-high stone wall. There it was, my photo opportunity, The Lone Cypress. On this morning the sea had a haunting and almost silent quality. Even though there was a wind, standing there the environment seemed quiet. The horizon line between the ocean and the sky blended and fooled the eye into thinking it was one living entity of silver sea and air. Across the bay pillowy soft gray clouds rolled over the hills at Point Lobos. In front of me on an outcropping of rocks stood a lone cypress tree leaning into the wind. With its arms stretched and branches bare it stood its ground as if protecting the beauty that laid behind it. The Lone Cypress, a delicate-looking yet mighty silhouette standing against the wind. Once at home I used the photo to make this painting. I used mostly blue, green, occur yellow, and black acrylic paint on a canvas panel. It hangs in my bedroom, it is the first thing I see in the morning and the last at night.