Yesterday was a lovely sunny day, so I took a walk along the Loire. I thought of Robyn, who did a watercolor painting and an ink drawing with a beautiful tree in her scene. I remember thinking that I’d like to take on trees, so, I took out my unipen and looked for trees to draw.

I’m afraid of trees, so this was really getting me out of my comfort zone. I find them complicated and I never know where to begin, what to put in and how to depict those intricate branches, not to mention the odd dry leaf still hanging for life, the magnitude of dead twigs intertwined like spiderwebs, the stunning moss growing on the shady sides, the windswept bending to nature’s unforgiving blows. I just find it hard.

I did four and then realized I need to do many more tree sketches to really grab hold of the character of a tree. In fact, next year one of my goals will be to take on plein air, piece by piece, studying trees and rocks, foliage, texture in nature. These are actually my first ever trees and now the ice is broken and the work awaits!

A tree standing in the water. Done on site in unipen and afterwards washed with indian ink and “petit gris” brush. Moleskine

A crab apple tree next to the Loire. Done in unipen and some inksplatterings at home to depict the gravel alongside the tree. Moleskine

An old split-open tree with a lot of spiderweb twigs hanging , which I tried to depict by a fine spray of black and silver ink at home. Moleskine.

This is my favourite tree, the Tilleul(along with the oak).  I just love their statuesque shapes that change from season to season. In late winter we just simply call them knot-trees, because they are pruned back to the thick knots, which some people find grotesque, but I think it’s beautiful. Some day I’ll do this tree again and hopefully do justice to it! Done in brushpen and I splotched some brushpen sprayes on the thick trunk to depict the beautiful moss. Moleskine.