Tree No. 613 2014-W27

Today's subject lives in the Lurie Gardens at Millennium Park, one of my favorite spots to sit and take in the city.  For a long time not many folks seemed to know about the enchanting garden that lurks on the other side of the evergreen hedges from the Cloudgate sculpture (which you probably call "the bean").

Now the cat is out of the bag and more people are ever present, but Lurie Garden was very tranquil once upon a time and on a nice bench I first painted this tree in March 2010. It was a young whippersnapper and just budding out in early spring.

I next painted the tree about 18 months later, in August 2011...  finding her a little more sturdy than my first capture, and fully leafed out in the dog days of summer.  Almost three years have passed since then.  In 2012 and 2013 I guess nothing in particular drew me downtown.  Or maybe I just didn't feel like schlepping all of my plein air regalia.  We will never know.

Happily, I had occasion this week to meet up with an old friend I haven't seen in a while.  She works nearby the Lurie Garden and so I thought I would take a few minutes to visit another acquaintance — who I now know bears a small metal tag with the number 613.  After 20 good minutes I captured a current likeness of my little tree, which isn't so little any longer.

Only time will tell when next I'll get around to painting her again.  But here, resplendent in her summer glory on July 3rd, I give you the 2014 edition of Tree No. 613.

Tree No. 613