Part 3 Project 1 Ex 1

Sketching individual trees

I thought it might be pertinent to look at how Turner drew trees.  I recall an image I used in a previous course of a sketch he did.

Pen and sepia sketch - J M W Turner (1)

Study of a tree -  J M W Turner (2)

These sketches are dynamic and atmospheric and I feel sure are the product of lots of close observation.

If I ever find myself getting bogged down in detail I will be returning to these images as an aide memoir.

Van Gogh,  Cezanne and Monet all painted trees but in very different styles.

The Mulberry tree  - Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
Oil on canvas (3)

Trees and Road (Abres et route) - Paul Cezanne, 1890
Oil on canvas (4)

Antibes seen from La Salis Gardens - Claud Monet, 1888
Oil on canvas (5)

Not one of these artists painted "leaves" they just made marks in their own style with whatever medium they chose.  Yet there is no doubt that "leaves" are what they drew.

More recently David Hockney interpreted trees in his unique way:

The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate - David Hockney, 2011

Here Hockney drew "leaves" individually to represent the whole.

A bit more accessible is a lovely water colour image of trees by Carole Baker that hangs in my home.

Trees by Carole Baker

Here the trees are much more abstracted and leaves merely hinted at.  What these different ways of rendering trees tells me is that there is no one way to draw them although what seems pretty definite is that you don't even think about individual leaves.

I wandered around the garden and took some photographs of trees.  It is mid November and many trees have bare branches although some cling to a few scant golden yellow leaves.  I noticed that the branch structure trees of different species are different shapes:

Snakebark maple - a fan shape

An ancient apple tree - almost a semi circle

Silver birch - a diamond

Another birch - a triangle

Prunus x Surbhirtella "Autumnalis"

I drew the outline shape of the prunus then developed it to the point of the leaves.  These were four separate sketches all starting from the same outline shape and following through the process.

Vaguely goblet shaped prunus

I drew in some branches

I looked to see how the leaves were placed

And scribbled some leaves (too many)

I looked closely at how Turner represented leaves and it is so ethereal I really can't tell.

Study of a tree -  J M W Turner (2)

I tried to represent the colour of the autumn leaves that are fast falling off my prunus tree.  These are the most successful.

Conte crayon

Small dots of water colour

Larger dots of water colour

Long water colour marks

I think the long water colour marks works best but there's a need for some darker paint.  I collected some leaves from the ground and this was confirmed.

Leaves collected from the garden

I tried again using a wider range of colours.

The water colours I used

My Autumn leaves

I allowed some blending of the colour and I'm pleased with the result.  It has the same intensity and excitement as the real thing.  However, I need to think of the light tones as well so I used the same colours but very diluted.

Muted Autumn leaves

Next I used the same colours but far less diluted.  My aim was to get light and dark tones to give depth to the tree.  It makes the light tones recede as I wanted it to.

Light and dark tones

I've suddenly realised that I've become seduced by individual leaves and how easy it was to get sucked in.  A change of focus is required I think.

I love the dawn redwood in our garden - it was the very first tree we planted on what had been neglected land.  It has grown from a stick to a beautiful tree about 10.5 metres tall. The tree is a deciduous conifer and an ancient species.  The trunk looks very dominant at this time of year when the leaves are falling but in the summer the tree is a bright green with needle like leaves. The autumn sees it turn the most wonderful bronzey pink.  It has a quirky bend at the very tip of its trunk.  The branches rise upwards and become very fine.

Dawn redwood - based on an inverted triangle

I take the trees in the garden very much for granted but on closer inspection not only do they offer entirely their own characteristics they provide a structure for the rest of the planting.

(1) ruskin.ashmolean.org
(2) www.tate.org.uk
(3)  http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/the-mulberry-tree.html
(4) http://www.barnesfoundation.org/collections/art-collection/object/7019/trees-and-road-arbres-et-route
(5) http://www.monetalia.com/paintings/monet-antibes-seen-from-la-salis-gardens.aspx
(6) http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article3581620.ece