If a tree falls in the forest…
Posted: February 10, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized 17 Comments…can someone sketch it? In winter?
Apparently you can if you are wearing mittens, a hat, a warm coat and a double layer of socks. Since the colours today are primarily duotone, I used a black and two blue water-soluble pencils and a Pentel brush pen for this, adding the water to the shadows once I returned home.
Nice composition, and strong, shadowy contrast. Thanks for sharing! : )
Thanks so much Julie.
Love this drawing. I did it a lot of times, standing and drawing out in the cold. I didn’t think of using these kind of pencils; it sounds like a good idea, normally my fountain pens stop running decently after a while. I’ll give it a try next time.
The pencils worked well René. I was standing up, so my watercolours were out of the question. I can’t bring a folding table into the forest. I thought I might have trouble with any kind of pen in these temperatures so that is why I picked the pencils. The brush pen started out ok but then started freezing a bit too.
Fabulous, Shari! I´m going to try drawing with Neocolor crayons one of these cold days too, to get some colour into my mittens sketches.
I have a real weakness for art supplies so don’t give me any ideas Nina!! Now I’ll have to go out and get Neocolors too…
Comment: Great sketch! As usual, the two halves are interesting compositions individually. Great feeling of depth with the eye led into the scene by following the tree. Interesting the way the trunk disappears under the snow… more interesting is that it still manages to cast a shadow while under the snow… the sunlight does work strangely at your latitude. : )
Observation: When you do flower paintings you get 20+ comments… when you do other stuff you a lot less… not sure whether this says more about your talent or your followers.
Questions: Why are you sketching while standing out in the snow like that? Are you stupid? (Did you have that assessment that I suggested some time ago?) Or was there really a convenient coffee shop with a seat by the window? : )
How is it you always manage to find the one place where I mess up Ross? There was a shadow in that area but probably not exactly l like that.
Of course I was STANDING OUTSIDE IN WINTER so it is understandable that it might not be completely perfect.
I have often wondered about the comments too.
Sometimes people comment or react to the story more than the picture, like the time someone was aggressive with me.
And yes, flowers get a lot of comments.
But I have also noticed that some people comment more when I do figure sketching, others comment on pencil drawings, some like the everyday objects. I think it is a wide audience and everyone has their preferences.
I love the snow sketches, especially since you’re battling tougher weather than I’m dealing with here down in Washington, DC. As always, very lovely sketch, and I want to tromp into that snow and leave blue footprints!
Thanks Jason. If you can’t tell from my endless moaning and complaining about the weather, we are having a particularly hard winter here. Horribly cold, lots of snow, no break at all. So I guess there are two choices: take up winter sports or take up winter sketching. I don’t usually go and stand in a forest but it was actually tolerable yesterday. And only about 2 minutes from my house so I could run home and warm up if I needed to, although I didn’t really need to.
Ha! I keep tellin’ ya, “come on down!” We’ll draw out in the warm. This is beautiful, by the way.
I wish Lee. This is one of the first winters in many years that we have not spent a week in Florida during the winter. I can’t tell you how much I miss it.
You’ve become a favourite amongst the blogs I follow. Every time you come up with new sketches I always find myself thinking, “I wonder what she sketched this week?” This is an example of another great sketch from you. I suppose it’s all dependent upon where you stand when you make the sketch but I find there is a disheartening sign of melancholy within this image of fallen tree. Maybe it’s the way the tree seems fragmented by the frame, and by the snow covering it as it snakes down into the sketches “depths.” Or maybe, it’s the sign of new life (sprouting trees) beside this old one long fallen. Or maybe, one such brave person would look at this and say, “Clearly she has made a metaphor for neurons in sketching the branches of this fallen tree. As though to remind oneself the fragility of our mental state, and the truths about ourselves that at times seems to hide under the snow–only showing once the snow’s blanket has melted away.”
But I wouldn’t say that. I would say it’s a beautiful picture of a fallen tree sketched from an angle most compelling.
Thanks Philip. You have clearly put more thought into it than I have but I love reading your description.
I just paint ’em like I see ’em.
Hahahaha, I just like pretending I’m a real art critic every now and then.
Or sometimes, not quite how you see ‘em. : )
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