Tall Oaks by the Driveway is a warm, enveloping studio acrylic painting that captures a beloved midpoint along the 450-foot gravel driveway of Don Yaun’s 11½-acre wooded homestead in Buford, Georgia. This 11″ × 14″ work on textured gesso board features a grouping of majestic old oaks that greet visitors roughly halfway back to the house. Their massive trunks and spreading branches begin the tall canopy that arches over the driveway on both sides, creating a natural tunnel effect that draws the eye toward the home nestled deeper in the woods.
These oaks were already large when Don and his wife moved to the property around 1982—likely 50 years old at the time—making them well over a century old today. Two substantial limbs, damaged in the trees’ younger days, grew horizontally outward, adding character and a sense of history to their forms. A small pecan tree once stood highlighted in the middle ground, but it was lost when another tree fell, leaving only its memory in this painting.
The textured gesso board and soft, impressionistic brushwork enhance the feeling of dappled light filtering through leaves, evoking the peaceful, timeless atmosphere of this special “welcome” spot on the homestead.