Secrets to Painting Palm Trees

Palm Trees on Blue (c) Mary Hubley

Palm Tree Paintings

 

These two little lovelies are just outside the studio where I teach painting classes (The Art Studio in St. Augustine Beach, Florida). These sabal palms are unsuspecting models for my art students.

On Painting Palm Trees

They're about the worst models I've ever dealt with. They're unruly, weird, and unforgiving. Kind of like the Twiggy of the tree world, palms look like shaggy lollypops rather than "real" trees. But we soldier through them, because it's all we have.

• Tell yourself they're not really trees at all. Treat them like they're merely shapes, with shapes within shapes within shapes.
• Not all palm trees are equal. Different varieties - sabal, fan, alexander, date, royal - look different. You can't figure one out and be able to paint all of them the same way.
• Start. First paint the shape -- lollypop.
• Continue. Paint darks and lights. Set apart a few main branchie-leaf-things. Finish with a few long, thin lines to detail the leaves and trunk. 
• Back-paint around the leaves with the background sky.
• Be patient. It took me a few years to really get comfortable painting palms. They can take much more time to do than other trees, especially at the beginning.

Genre: Landscape
Painting Name: Palm Trees on Blue
Size: 10" x 8"
Media: Oil on Canvas


-- Mary Hubley