trees – Page 33 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Snowy Sunrise

More working with wet-in-wet, as well as white and shades of white. Not sure if the idea that the part of the lower trees facing the viewer convey a sense of shadow – being darker – before moving into the shadows in the foreground.

With wet-in-wet, it is really important to understand how a paper responds to water. This is Canson XL, a student grade paper, but one that I like to use when experimenting. I’ve never really worked at using it really wet, but the results of focusing on it – having it sopping, having it damp – is beginning to yield some decent results, such as few blooms and hard edges.

Under Mirkwood

Aspen Grove

I painted this using multiple layers of frisket on the paper. On the first round, I blocked off the right side of the aspens. Once I was fairly content with the overall image, I added frisket over various areas, such as the greens and browns of the foliage. I made lines to represent trees, and dots to suggest a glint of sunshine on a leaf. I did this three or four times on dried paint. In the end, I removed the frisket, left some areas white, and painted over other white areas with transparent glazes, hoping to pull together different areas of the painting. Finally, I made small dots of colored paint in the foliage, to suggest leaves.

This study was to utilize what I have been learning from the experience of following Rick Surowicz’s YouTube videos, as well as what I learned just painting. This is the first time I conscientiously laid out a plan or method on how to approach the painting. First, drawing. Then frisket. Next, washes of green, gold, brown, and oranges broad across the paper and blurred using a spray bottle and blotting. From there, details, contrast, and so on. Overall, I think my painting has taken a turn for the better.

In the Woods

Inktober is done and gone . . . this past week I’ve been sewing like a fiend, last night there was a mass shooting down the road from us with a thirteen people killed and eighteen wounded – more – there are fires to the east and west of us, and the wind is blowing like crazy. There is peace in ink.

Cold & Cloudy

Inktober continues apace, but I have been going 100 mph for the past week. No time to focus on a theme. This morning, though, I thought about cold mountains and winter – where I live, it’s in the mid-80s to low-90s, and I could use a bit of blustery weather.

Here is a mountain – inky for Inktober

And here is the same scene, in cold and wintry colors.

I used to do a lot of Chinese painting, and I tried to incorporate the clouds in a rather Chinese-painting fashion, in ink and watercolor. Hints, not direct; subtlety rather than blatant. I’m not sure if it worked for the clouds between the mountains, but I definitely like the chilliness and fogginess of the scene overall.