Drawing Trees - Sketch and Study of an Individual Tree

1. I wasn’t sure what type of tree was in the sketch of the individual tree, so I took away a small branch to identify it later. With the help of a park guide and the internet I managed to ascertain that it is most likely a Cork Oak. The tree in the larger study is an ancient Sweet (or Spanish) Chestnut and in the third drawing in pastel they are Alder and Osier Willow, located in a wetland area of the park.

2. To distinguish each type I tried to use the most appropriate technique I could think of for the individual subject, closely following their growth pattern. For example in the final study of the Sweet Chestnut: to bring out the prominent spiral ribs on the trunk I loosely held the pencil at least half way along applying loose tenuous flowing lines and filled some of them out using the side of the pencil.  For the branches and outline of the trunk I applied broken light and heaver lines.  I used loose thin lines with the side of the pastel tip for the trunks of the Osier Willows on the left side of the later pastel drawing and a very dark brown pastel on the side for the dark trunks of the Alder trees in the middle ground. I made a conscious effort to look intently at the subject rather than the paper for the most part and I feel this has helped me, as it is so necessary, to pick out the individual tree type’s distinctive appearance.

Study of an Indiviual Tree

5. To select and simplify I tried to see things as shapes in the scene rather than as particular objects, which was not so easy at times. Constantly trying not to get bogged down in too much detail (a recipe for disaster) I blocked in the larger shapes, then the smaller shapes, again squinting often. I think it worked mostly, apart from the leaves on the individual tree (Chestnut) - I had a problem conveying these simply yet convincingly and I ended up overworking them. If  I was to do them again, or similar, I would be more mindful of taking the  time to study their characteristic growth pattern by building up with loose very light pressure in the early stages. One problem here for me was obtaining a 3D look and I thought I could solve this by enlarging the closest leaves more, while giving just a vague suggestion of the leaves further away. I put too much in at the early stages and couldn’t alter this successfully later on when I had realized my mistake.