Pollard Willows

 

Very close to our home - within walking distance - are two patches of woodland, both called the 'Alblasserbos'. One patch is close to our home and we walk there most of the times, but the other patch is also worth a visit. It is a small area and somewhere in the middle there is a very wet land, with lots of pollard willows very close to one another. I think these trees are still used to harvest the young branches for baskets and other things.

The trunks of these trees are all short and have these typical shapes that you see only with pollard willows. Because of the wetness of the land the trees are covered with mosses and there are ferns and other plants growing in the treetops.

When we were passing that area I had to stop and make some reference pictures.

Because I have been painting for challenges these past weeks, the pollard willows had to wait a bit but now I have found time and inspiration to make the drawing I wanted to make.

The paper is a light grey tinted piece of cardboard and I have used willow charcoal and some watercolour pencils for the mosses, the ferns, a bit of the first tree trunk and the pool of water. These pencil colours became a bit stronger after I had used my fixative - and I had planned for this to happen and the result is what I hoped for.

The complete information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this mixed media drawing can all be found in my Tumblr blog.