Roadway Adornments – Painting of the Week

Seeing the Sphere in Landscape Painting

Have you ever noticed how much more captivating a roadway becomes when framed by trees? The varied colors of mixed tree varieties create a vibrant visual display, acting as natural Roadway Adornments that cast dynamic shadow patterns across the pavement. Among these shapes, the sphere-like treetops capture the sunlight on one side while darkening gracefully into their own shade.

Learning to spot these geometric forms in nature is the first step toward bringing depth and realism to your landscape paintings. Mastering the painting of a sphere takes practice, but once you truly see and understand its form, you can give convincing volume to any shape in your art. Imagine placing a softball in direct sunlight: light rays illuminate one side while the shadowed side curves away, subtly receiving a soft flicker of reflected light bouncing back up from the ground. Even within a dense cluster of trees, these fundamental rules of light and shadow remain true, allowing you to reveal rich, 3D volume in your brushwork.