Christmas Larch trees

So, Sarah Maitland in her book, Gossip of the Forest, mentions a number of trees in her walk through a forest in November. The one which I wanted to look at was the Larch. I had no idea what one looked like (it turns out it has a classical Christmas tree shape, particularly when young. Best of all, though, was the mention that it turns a vibrant yellow in autumn before dropping its leaves to form a golden carpet underneath. That would be worth seeing, and painting.

There are so many pine trees, which all look alike to me. I appreciate now that, in fact, they are all different. The Larch is not coniferous and does shed its leaves. The European larch is very common in UK now, having been introduced from central Europe in the seventeenth century. Its trunk is a brownie pink. It can keep its cones on, even after they have shared their seed. And the female flowers, sometimes called 'roses' look beautiful. So, would I find one locally to photograph and to paint?

The answer, so far at least, has been no. They are plantation trees, so great in number, but not ones commonly planted. Some individual trees were planted on large estates for their ornamental value. I thought I might have found one in Sefton Park in the fairy glen by a tall Scotts pine, but it turned out to be a ginkgo tree. I did get excited when a new Woodland Trust app seemed to pinpoint a larch nearby. But I had misread the app.

As to the painting, I used previous palette paintings as the background and experimented with different angles, strokes, colours. The intention is to make Christmas cards from them, although one of them has turned out wondrously well, and I think it will end up in a frame. I have quite a lot more palette paintings on which to add larch trees. It's just the beginning, but slowly I am being surrounded by forest on my window ledges. And it looks amazing!