TM9192 Arboreal Study #2 7×7 oil on panel
TM9191 Arboreal Study #1 7×7 oil on panel
TM9193 Arboreal Study #3 7×7 oil on panel
TM9194 Arboreal Study #4 7×7 oil on panel
I usually do preliminary investigations of a subject – small studies on prepared paper – as a way to try out colors, techniques, and to figure out my response to what I’m seeing. These arboreal studies told me that it was the wind, more than the actual tree, that wanted to be my subject. The colors inform my emotional response, but moving air, especially on a hot summer day, well, that’s what I crave. So these studies are about the blue, cloud-strewn sky and wind as seen through the trembling leaves. Enjoy.
Technical painting notes: All the studies were painted on prepared rag paper, usually primed with clear shellac front and back. I used the palette knife almost exclusively. I suspect that translating these studies to a larger scale will mean abandoning the knife in favor of a roller to accommodate the change in scale.
Teri Malo Studio 
What I like about your art is that so much of it lies on a boundary between representational and abstract art. These embody that, and I just love them. They awaken that feeling of free air passing through. Thankyou for sharing them.
Thank you for your perceptive comments. For me, the drifting boundary lines around reality are the most interesting places to explore. There is still the gesture and fact we can all recognize, with the benefit of more room for the emotional response. It also offers space for intellectual play.
Studies play such an important role in making art, and it’s interesting the different kinds of visual questions, ideas, emotions, etc., that artists are exploring with those preliminary works.