Dogwoods In The Night
This is an original oil painting on 12 x 16 inch canvas that I worked on today. The background is a black green with some lighter greens blended in. The canvas was still wet when I took the photo of the painting so some extra glare is evident in the picture.
The inspiration for the painting started several years ago when we traveled to Canton, Texas every month for the First Monday of the Month Trade Show. The dogwoods are plentiful there and bloom early in the spring. There is an artesian water well, just outside Canton on a country road, famous for its taste and is free to the public (was at that time). Anyway, we would go get water there and the view of the dogwoods in bloom in the woods was beautiful. We took several pictures of the trees and blossoms and I finally got around to painting them after four years.
Also, there is a legend that the dogwood was once large, but after being used to make the cross Jesus Christ was crucified on, it no longer grows to be a big tree. The blossoms are cross shaped with two opposing petals shorter than the longer petals and the petal tips have a small red spot signifying Jesus's blood. This is a shortened version of the legend, as I remember it, but you can find much more by googling the legend of the dogwood on the internet.
We did the Canton show for about eight years and stopped in 2006 when we started building a house. We miss doing that market and have ambitions to go back sometime soon. I hope you like this painting.
God Bless You,
Jimmie Bartlett
