Wet tree - graphite drawing

 

The reference of the wet tree I photographed and sketched in the garden of the  Dordrechts Museum is once again my inspiration. This time I used tinted paper and my water soluble graphite to make this drawing.

In fact I am still looking for the best way to paint or draw the scene, using the sketch as my reference. Both the ink painting and the watercolour painting were not exactly what I hoped for - even though I made works I am happy with - so I tried tinted paper in a darker shade of brown than the background painting for my watercolour painting. 

This paper is not suitable for very wet techniques, so I used the water soluble graphite. One layer of graphite is worked on with as little water as possible to make the colours flow and 'wake them up' and after that I only used the dry graphite in several layers of colour to get this result. It starts looking more and more like a real wet tree, Once again I started with the lines of the sketch and made a drawing that looked well balanced.

I think I should let the reference sketch rest for now and look at the reference picture for another work, most likely a watercolour painting. The sketch has too little information (it started raining again, so we went inside) for further use.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this drawing and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my original artwork, please contact me.

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.

Wet tree - made during a workshop session

 

During the workshop session organised by Pictura I also had the opportunity to work with inks. This work is made with one colour only, I love to work monochromatic.

During a short period of dry weather (and not much dripping from the trees) the other students in the workshop session and me went into the garden of the Dordrechts Museum for inspiration. The trees there are very old and majestic. 

One of the trees was wet from the rain that had fallen earlier, but not all of the tree trunk was wet. The patterns the water made inspired me. First I made a reference picture, after that I started sketching. When it started raining again, I stopped working on the sketch and went inside to make the ink drawing.

Using only the sketch for reference, I made a drawing/painting using ink and a brush - so it's more a painting than a drawing I guess.

Working with the ink and water was new for me, but is very similar to working with watercolour paint, so I felt confident.

The final result is different from the initial sketch, but I worked partially from memory as I had to stop sketching early. For the work I made with the ink I also worked on the composition.

The information about the materials I have used and the size of this work can be found in my Tumblr blog.