Wider Than Tall

11/17/14 India ink, twig, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Driving through my neighborhood, I spotted a black locust tree with an asymmetrical shape that might have been natural but was more likely due to the nearby power lines. Still, it isn’t nearly as haphazardly chopped as most trees I’ve been sketching. It still retains its gracefully wide reach.

11/17/14 India ink, twig, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Its reach, in fact, is so wide that my first attempt (at left) wouldn’t fit properly on the sketchbook page. Somewhere in my brain is the incorrect “knowledge” that trees are taller than they are wide. After I saw that my sketch wasn’t proportioned correctly, I sight-sized closely and realized that this tree is, in fact, a little wider than it is tall. I tried again, this time using a full sketchbook spread.