Author: Pierre Labeau, Contributing Editor

What do you mean, "Johannes has done it again?". That Johannes Vooth...Votherou...what ever his name is, hasn't done it. I, the great and honorable Pierre, has done it again. And here it is ...another of my fabulous Quick Tips! Ah, but first, another entry from Pierre's mailbag! Mr. Labeau, All of my trees look alike!!! What to do, what to do!? Please can you help a grateful artist, starving in El Paso? HG Well, HG, I once saw a movie called "Get to Know Your Rabbit". It may have been the only movie Tommy Smothers ever made and it was a comedy, of course. But it had an interesting premise. Seems Tommy was a magician whose rabbit was always jumping out of the hat at the exact wrong moments. The advice of fellow magicians was "Get to Know your Rabbit!". Well, if you want to be a landscape painter, Get to Know your Trees! Here's a few to get you started but you will need to do some legwork in order to be a true landscape painter! Good Luck. Keep those emails a comin', folks! Pierre (pierre@wetcanvas.com)

Someone once said that you must paint a whole forest before you can truthfully say that you have painted real leafs!! In other words, you must practice before you can paint a realistic tree. You must really want to learn about trees! Paint hundreds and hundreds of them. Get some of those paper canvas pads and get out into the woods and paint trees!! Learn to express the character of each type and the character of each individual tree!!

Don't just paint a tree - know what KIND of tree it is that you are painting and what is the MOOD of that tree. Is it a sapling? An old tree that has stood the test of time?

Think three dimensionally as you paint. Remember trees have a near side a middle and a far side. Not just a light side toward the light source and a dark side away from it.

(* O.K. I know, I cut off the tops of the names!! You'd think with all of the high powered tech people around here, someone would teach me to use a computer!! From left to right - DOGWOOD, LARCH, LIVE OAK w/ spanish moss) These are just a few, of course, they will always be here on Wetcanvas! so that you may refer to them but it is up to you to get out among the trees and paint the ones that grow where you live. Practice, practice, practice!