Painting New Orleans Blog

"A long time ago there was a knight that was bested by a large ancient dragon, but he bides his time, honed his skills and returned to take the dragon down".

"Saint George and The Dragon" by Gustave Moreau

I just finished a painting of an ancient oak tree and it got me thinking about earlier battles won and lost. You see, when I first came back to New Orleans after graduate school, I fantasized about being  a landscape painter. I had spent the previous year in graduate school making strange sculptures out of burned paper and my painting skills were rusty.  I thought that the best way to break with the past  and express my newfound love for the city would be to paint landscapes in an impressionist style. The only problem was that I  was so out of practice that I was just plain terrible.  But I had high hopes.

I went to Audubon Park and set my sights on the “Tree of Life”, an age-old oak tucked behind the zoo, the levy and the stables. Also called the Etienne de Boray oak, after New Orleans’ first mayor, the tree has stood for over five hundred years according to the Live Oak Society.  I hope it stands for five hundred more.

This is the "Tree of Life" on a foggy morning.

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   My initial assignment to myself  was to  capture the play of light across the mighty oaks long trunk. Ah yes. I tried … But the  painting was awful. Embarrassing .  A complete failure. I destroyed it.

After that failure, I kept my second try of a nearby scene,  even  though it was not very good. I did it not to cruelly remind myself of how terrible I am, but because I thought I would get better over time, and that someday I would want to see how far I have come. 

Here is that second painting-

Here is the back of the painting, called"Number Two" (because it was my second try)

So when I returned to paint the tree of life the other day , I  remembered those embarrassing feelings of falling flat on my face with that first painting in 2009 . But now it is 2016 and my skills have improved to some degree.

Here is the completed  "Tree of Life Painting" from 2016-

"Tree of Life" 36" x 48" $1,495

It looks a LOT better right?  I think the lesson is that it is good to see where you started from, because then you can see how things improve over time. Sometimes you will fall flat on your face but I believe that  things really do get better.  So remember to be patient with yourself .

Thanks for Reading,

Adam K Hall

PS I also have prints of this painting available for $35 here-http://adamkhall.com/workszoom/2022304