Wet tree

 

In my previous post I wrote about the drawing workshop session I attended in the garden of the Dordrechts Museum where I got inspired by the water patterns on a tree trunk.

During that workshop session I made a reference picture, a sketch and an ink painting.

This time I used my sketch as a reference for a watercolour painting and maybe I will also be working from the picture. In the post about the ink painting I wrote about the weather, that there was limited time to complete my sketch, but that the composition in the sketch was interesting (lots of empty paper). The ink painting did not have these bits of empty paper - which does not make it a bad painting but it did not turn out as planned.

So today another try, using the sketch as my reference. Using watercolour and small brushes the fine lines of the water running down the tree trunk are easy to paint. 

The more horizontal lines - also wet with water and showing a lot of the structure of the tree bark - are again a challenge. When to stop? The reference sketch is good, but much more grey on white, this watercolour is much darker, giving much more contrast in the values of the painting. So I ended up adding more lines and some extra colour in the tree trunk to make the painting more balanced.

Again I had difficulties making a 'good' painting from a good (balanced) sketch and this will not be the last time this happens to me. Over the past years this happened more than once and I expect I will also have these 'problems' in the future. Well, this kind of trial and error are the best learning moments so they are good for me - a bit frustrating but good.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.