6B pencil.īecause I enjoy sketching trees, scheduling time for practice remains a priority. An aging coral tree supported by a piece of wood. Their waxy composition allowed me to explore light and texture by layering and mixing colors in a painterly fashion. Rediscovering Prismacolors brought the coral trees to life on my sketchbook pages. I was introduced to Prismacolor pencils by my high school art teacher in 1973, but didn’t use them to sketch trees until my days spent in Mexico. First time observing close details while applying multiple layers of only the 3 primary colors. 1994 The coral tree blossom that changed my life. Recording their movement became a delightful obsession. Limbs are constantly twisting and reaching for precious sunlight, or shifting their weight as they lean into nature’s harshest elements. My early encounters with a cluster of coral trees while living in rural Mexico in the 1990s opened my eyes to the gradual adjustments that trunks, branches, and leaves must make according to their surroundings. ![]() ![]() Practicing layers of only the 3 primary colors. I just had to take time to be still enough to see it, and then draw it. The simplicity of a palm’s features taught me to observe the complex movement of trees without becoming overwhelmed with too many branches and specific leafy details.īecause of shifting winds and the law of gravity, even the simplest, straightest palm tree can lean at a slight angle and have a bend in its trunk. Capturing movement of fronds and trunk in wind light/dark values. And practicing is what sketchbooks are for. As simple as I thought they would be to draw, it would take a lot of practice to make palm trees that looked natural. And because of their ubiquitous presence in my life, I found it easier to default to the symbolic palm tree caricatures from imagination, rather than drawing realistic palm fronds swaying in the wind. Palm trees are iconic symbols of the suburban lifestyle in Southern California where I grew up. Faber Castel brush nib pen, Micron pen, and watercolor. Comparing vertical poles, angled wires, and leaning palms for composition. While attempting to sketch a few palm fronds swaying in the breeze (shown above), I began to notice the contradiction between my childhood notions of drawing and the complex patterns of the fronds I observed. My adventure into drawing the arboreal started in earnest on a warm afternoon in Mexico during the summer of 1989. Paging through old sketchbooks is like reading a visual language that was coded many years ago-visual notes of my private history of skill development and sensational encounters. A shift of focus requires delicacy of the pencil point to depict the hazy atmosphere that separates a tree from distant hills. I find great pleasure in being surrounded by a stand of trees, getting acquainted with the silent sentries that guard my sacred sanctuary of sketching and learning.ĭeliberate pressure of my pencil records the darkest shadows on branches of an oak tree, hidden from sunlight. Trees are the master teachers that guide me in practicing essential skills in drawing from life. Learning to emphasize lines and values in foreground trees to create the illusion of depth in the composition. It is like having my own forest of drawn memories bound together.įollowing are some of my sketched moments with trees…ġ995 Rancho La Pila, Mexico. ![]() Various species of trees have been tapping their roots in the pages of my sketchbooks for several decades. ![]() And as an adult, trees have remained one of my core subjects of interest. Micron pen, watercolor.ĭrawing became my livelihood and a continuous source of joy. Fall leaves in the parking lot outside my studio. Most people leave childhood drawing behind to pursue life’s more grown-up callings. Unfortunately, the joy of drawing trees-and everything else-is abandoned by many kids as they become immersed in the rigors of writing, math, and reading. Or a long and curved line topped with serrated, curved shapes became a palm tree. Tall triangles symbolized towering conifers. Of course drawings of trees could vary widely depending on where you lived as a kid. Winter branches outside my studio window. And if you were in a creative mood that day, a few angled lines could be added to suggest its branches. As a young child, you likely learned to draw a tree by using a few circular shapes to symbolize masses of leaves supported by a narrow rectangle to depict the tree’s trunk.
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