A sketch on my birthday!

I painted this today, sitting in the sun, looking out at the hills and just being content. We are in Coonoor, up in the Nilgiri Mountains, the blue mountains as the name suggests! Viveck planned this as a birthday treat  and I am really happy that we took this time out. Trees fascinate me, and I can never have enough of looking at them, there is so much strength in them, and for me a they create a sense of continuity, of history and of course beauty! This tree stood at the edge of the lawn, the trunk in interesting shapes and I have tried to capture the wonderful lights of a winter sun! I think I should have painted the hills at the back a little bit darker!

There is no pollution here, so I guess the sun shines brighter. We went for  long walk up to Sims Park, full of a wonderful variety of trees, the oldest being 150 years old, the sunlight peeping in and out among the trees, creating interesting colours, lights and shadows! New leaves have begun to sprout, and the colours are amazing, from lime greens to translucent pinks and reds! I have taken a lot of reference pictures and hope some more sketches will come from this wonderful holiday!