Still looking for red buds

Eastern Redbud, 6x6" oil on panel

In conversations about spring blooms in North Carolina, my brother frequently mentioned Redbuds. I never knew what he was talking about because I wasn’t seeing trees with red buds. I have since learned that the Eastern Redbud is the tree we see in the Carolinas in early spring that has a brilliant magenta bud and flower. It grows in the wild, but it is also used as a planting in many commercial and private landscapes. Here I have depicted one on a commercial property. Truthfully, I think these trees are most beautiful along the highway in early spring when their intensely magenta buds contrast so radiantly against the still grey backdrop of winter.

This was my third painting on a paint-out in Raleigh on Tuesday. I’ll be  posting many new landscapes I’ve done en plein air in Hot Off the Easel, my other blog. For a while at least, I’m reserving On the Plein Air Trail for my tree paintings.