The woods are a Notan

On our daily walks in the woods, Alice and I discover different trails. We’ve been taking one lately that is quite magical in winter because of all the bent tree branches. It was especially gorgeous this morning after yesterday’s snowfall — a monochrome wonderland.

I took a few photos of various patterns that the trees make, and when I got back to my studio, I painted this one in ink. No preliminary pencil drawing, just an array of fine brushes dipped first in Noodler’s Black ink for the foreground shapes, and then Noodler’s Lexington Grey ink for the background shapes. It’s a good exercise to try to paint around what you want to leave white.

I used a smooth sketchbook paper for this. If you want to give this a try, don’t use your good watercolour brushes. I have another set that I use for ink that have very good points and are very inexpensive.