Diane McClary: Palm Trees

Palm trees are iconic not only to California and Hawaii, but throughout the Mediterranean and found in even more unlikely places. As a result, they are a very popular subject for artists.

In response to demand Diane made this very special DVD on painting Palm trees. It has two parts. The first one is painting “cultivated” Palms in a park south of La Quinta, California. (In this usage, “cultivated” means trimmed of their “skirts”.)

Diane leads you through scene selection and composition, then details the materials, palette and tools she takes with her when hiking to a place to paint en plein air.

This is followed by a value study, and finally the color study. Her DVD’s include explanations of her thoughts, choices, decisions, and applications. These are accompanied by palette shots to show the viewer her color choices and how she mixes them.

After that she travels to another park, this time Indian Canyons, south of Palm Springs, California. Here the palms are not trimmed and grow well thanks to the water from a small stream and the underground springs in that area.

Once again we join Diane in the process of scene selection and set up followed by a value study, and then the color painting. This time, the emphasis is on the temperatures and values of the “skirts” as well as the primary scene.