Drawing trees

I'm taking an online class with Deborah Paris on drawing and painting trees.  We're learning about how a tree trunks tapers as it grows, starting out really big at the base and narrowing in girth as it reaches into the sky.  Here are a few samples of my studies this week.

First, a copy of a drawing by JD Harding, from the book, On Drawing Trees In Nature, A Classic Victorian Manual, published in 1846. 

This is a copy of a drawing after John. F. Kensett

And finally, a drawing from life, a big old oak in Jackson Square, New Orleans.  This was fun to draw because I sat basically underneath this huge tree while a jazz band played in the square.  People walking by, tarot card readers, artists displaying their works.  Lots going on in NO!

Moving studio to Fall City, WA! Out in the country!

Back from Texas, waiting for my paint supplies to arrive.  I shipped a box Fed Ex home from Clarksville - it should arrive tomorrow.  There are four paintings from that workshop that I plan to continue working on.  Deborah Paris taught a painting technique inspired by painters from the Renaissance which consists of applying thin glazes of oil paint, building up the layers and creating a luminosity like nothing I've seen before.  As I work my way through the painting process I'm learning how to plan ahead which areas will be transparent and which will be opaque.  Very challenging and it's a lot of fun! I'll post some of that work soon.  I'm still working it.  

The real reason I'm writing is to announce that I will be moving back to my studio in Fall City, WA beginning May 1st.  On my property is a wonderful, small, intimate space in the trees.  I work in a treehouse studio.  It is designed after a fire lookout like the ones we have on mountaintops in the Cascades.  There are windows on all sides, so being in the trees it's nice to have all the natural light.  I'm super excited to get moved and get working. 

Here is a master copy I did of a drawing by Ashur B. Durand: 

Deborah Paris Landscape Atelier

Down here in Clarksville, Texas, studying landscape painting with master tonalist painter, Deborah Paris!  What a beautiful part of the country to be in this month as the trees turn green and frogs are croaking (It's especially sweet to be outside in the sunshine when I hear it's raining buckets back home in Washington).

  Here's a picture of Deborah's underpainting demo.  I'll post some pictures of my work from this week soon.

This is the B&B where I'm staying - built in 1880!  Lots of history around here.  Went on the Ghost Walk last Saturday night.  One of the members of the Historical Society took us on a walking tour of town to all the haunted houses!  I was freaked out at the last house.  People on the tour had ghost apps and their phones went wild!   Have you ever heard of a ghost app?


By the way, they have red cardinals down here, which I love, because they're cousins to the blue jay back home.  Love the red!  Well, it just so happens that I have acquired a recently deceased cardinal (that hit the house by accident) and I'm trying to figure out a way to bring it home so I can do a painting.  Anybody have ideas on how to get this lovely creature home?  Taxidermist?

From thumbnail to color study

I recently did some sketching of the water reflections on the Snoqualmie River and I decided to turn one of my ideas into a painting.  Well, I'm about half way there.  Let me show you the process from thumbnail to color study.

First of all, it was freezing outside, so I sat in my car and pulled out the thumbnail sketchbook.  A thumbnail drawing is about half the size of a post-it, or 1.5"x2".  All I'm trying to do is see if my design idea works as a small black and white image.  I drew this one quickly with 6B pencil and added white chalk for the light areas.  As soon as I had something down I had to decide if I liked the flat, graphic image.  Was it an interesting design?  Was it simple enough or too complicated?  Were the darks clumped together or spread all apart.  The simpler the design the stronger it is.  It's really hard to uncomplicate the landscape because there's so much to look at!  I decided I liked the design.


Here is the thumbnail drawing

Later on I decided to make a larger, more complete value study, this time about 4"x6".  Because I was in my studio I had to imagine the tree because I wasn't working from a photo, just memory and the thumbnail to look at.

Here is the 4x6 value study

I liked it but something bothered me and I wasn't sure what it was.  I showed it to my landscape teacher, Deborah Paris, and she said it's not a good idea to put the trunk of the tree right next to the edge, as it pulls the eye right out of the picture.  I agreed and I also remembered that Edgar Payne mentioned the same thing in his book, Composition of Outdoor Painting.  So I decided to do another value study and move the tree trunk in. 

This time I made the drawing an 8x10 because that's the same size I wanted for the color study. 

Here is the 8x10 value study (graphite and white chalk on gray toned paper):

As you can see the drawing is more developed and I have moved the tree in from the edge.  I think it looks better.  What do you think?  The tree is pretty dark because it's close up and it's a gray day in the Pacific Northwest which makes all the values pretty close together.

Now it was time to do the color study.  Working from memory of the day I did the thumbnail I painted this 8x10 study.  As I worked I looked at the 8x10 value study as a reference.  It was really interesting how I remembered the colors from that day just looking at the black and white drawing.  I think it's fascinating how much we record in our minds without knowing!

Here is the color study.

I'm pretty happy with the colors, but I think some of my values are off and I made it into a sunny morning type feel rather than a gray day.  What do you think?  I plan to do another study to attempt to match the value study above.  If I can do that then I'll go for a larger studio painting.

Master copy of George Inness

This is a master copy of George Inness.  I really liked the orange sky.

Colored Pencil on Prepared Paper

Crystal Mountain Trees  9"x7"  sepia pencil on prepared paper

Merry Christmas, everyone!   There is nothing more beautiful in the Pacific Northwest than the mighty evergreens laden with snow.  For this piece I chose a prepared paper and sepia colored pencil combination - always a good idea to match the drawing medium to the type of paper used.  This is hot pressed watercolor paper toned with raw sienna watercolor and then painted with amber colored shellac.  The paper becomes very hard and receptive to Veri-thin colored pencils and white chalk.  It's fun to sit inside all cozy and warm and draw the snow piled branches and limbs.  There is a stillness in wintertime that fills my soul.

Color Harmony in the Landscape

This fall I worked outside painting the light in the Snoqualmie Valley.  We live about 30 miles outside the city of Seattle, WA in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.  For this series I tried to capture a harmony of light, or envelope of light, as my landscape instructor,  Mitch Albala calls it.  

In his book, Landscape Painting, Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice, Albala said, "A painting, of course, is not illuminated from within or enveloped by atmosphere, as is the actual landscape.  It exists on a two-dimensional surface and can only reflect light.  But the harmony and unifying effects of atmosphere can be imported into our paintings by using strategies that emphasize the similarities among colors, showing that there is a shared essence of every color in every other color."