Forest Grove

Smith's most characteristic structure: a dark frame of fir boughs at the upper corners opening onto a bright valley that recedes in bands of sap green, olive and pale yellow to a thin blue sky. Two sienna trunks hold the right side and stop the composition from drifting. The boughs along the top are painted as separate teal strokes with white ground visible between them, so the canopy reads as pattern near the eye and the distance stays soft — the whole depth of the picture is carried by that one decision. Little is described in detail. The recession is entirely a matter of temperature.