Spruce

Canada has a lot of trees. And spruce trees are particularly ubiquitous, found, as far as I know, in almost every corner of the country. My studio is surrounded by them so I have studied them quite closely. This particular one was situated on a nearby cottage and I painted it as part of a commission. I'm pretty lax about doing commissions. I don't like to get too pigeon-holed so I make no promises about what I'll paint but, at the same time, I don't charge any up front fees. I simply promise to do some plein air painting on site and, if the client likes what they see, they are free to buy whatever I produce. This particular day I was really enamored with the spruce growing beside the cottage deck. The client was disappointed though and passed on buying it. They wanted something  that illustrated the cottage itself, with a duck or two thrown in for good measure. I can't say I blame them.