Pencil Shavings

365 Days of Art - Day 304 - In The Trees

My family are all early risers.  This can be problematic if Mom has been up plate painting, but it can also be a big bonus in getting my hour of art done early in the day.

On Day 304 my kids were up and ready to play quite early.  I decided to walk with them down to the playground, before anyone else was there.

They played and I made some sketches of the trees and birds that are down in the lower part of the valley.

I find evergreens to be pretty difficult to draw (and worse to paint)  Of course all trees have posed me with problems in rendering.  There is something about them that bring me back to my kindergarten drawing where trees either look like shaggy triangles or lollipops!

This tree came out looking pretty good, although the scale is hard to determine, I should try to take some time to figure out how to convey scale.

365 Days of Art - Day 302 - Down By the River

Painting on location (en plein air) is a challenge for me.  I do get overwhelmed with details that I don't usually struggle with when I am in the studio.

I need to learn how to narrow my focus and how to eliminate the overwhelming amount of details (from all my senses) and try to get the essential information down.

I managed to get this lone pine tree away from all the information bombarding me while I was out on Day 302 with my kids at a park by the river.

They played at the playground there and I found a spot on the grass, in the shade, and worked away at this.  All in all it came out pretty well.