![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKQ5WbZ3ySI4sUfkNOvBDg5EPT7A1bdc1wZRoC6oUroP5PQuxozvI0Qwnfo2O5tjQ_CVYJ14jVbPWXWWxdSldf5Yt2oTd7jZKS3moUhtjg7wSS96LKaBXLU9mT-fYIqvXyZ97xgyUAw/w640-h490/7-9-21+graphite%252C+Hi-Uni%252C+98+lb+mixed+media%252C+Frost+class%252C+Volunteer+Park%252C+Seattle.jpg) |
7/9/21 Volunteer Park |
Volunteer Park has many appealing attractions, including the
Seattle Asian Art Museum, Conservatory and historic water tower, all of which I’ve sketched many times. The one thing I haven’t sketched there much is its
trees – and the park has some of the largest and oldest trees in the city. Therefore,
I was happy that instructor Kristin Frost chose Volunteer Park as the location
for our Week 2 class in drawing trees.
Kristin began class with a demo on different ways to make
marks to evoke a variety of foliage textures. She also showed us how she would
approach simplifying masses of foliage and layers of trees into a manageable composition.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQqCuml-mycIi66Iep-UpLnFWrqU2l12jaDjMX75mQuzB1iomS6rZ0TQ1JW5P6Sy-yGhp2K8FRDdsjiZHsWavFNRDnFzmwoFNBlFOY7U3uAUFH8mDdIlkwqC3YFXpDXyU8V6tI0K9xg/s320/7-9-21+graphite%252C+Hi-Uni%252C+98+lb+mixed+media%252C+Frost+class%252C+thumbnail.jpg) |
I tried various compositions for the same scene by changing the thumbnail. |
A subject that is continually challenging for me is a sunlit
tree in the foreground with a dark background, so I thought I’d tackle that. I
looked around and found several examples. In retrospect, I wished I had chosen
an easier foreground tree than this fir tree’s feathery branches, but Kristin
was very helpful in giving me tips. For example, toward the end when I was refining
details, I was having difficulty getting those branches to stand out distinctly.
She suggested that I simply sharpen the soft 5B pencil I was using to a fresh
point and darken the background only around the pointy parts of the branches.
Just sharpening the pencil made a huge difference.
Although I am using a larger sketchbook for class than I
typically would for urban sketching, I ended up making this drawing at roughly
my usual A5 size because I’m comfortable with it. During the group critique, I
noticed that most of my classmates had made much larger drawings. It occurred to me
that I should probably push myself to go larger next time, since that would be new
territory for me.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKbjjkOjqk4PXeWkIqmwfQTbd0ncHXPVAeP10gCvHKEGfuP6KV3M3l5v9UvXxwIHjsrs4f17f2tZT8XEM-f5d0kOpMU17YKPrrpvPW3Ndn7hNZwNskpr97DMsGA-_8Vw2MNQDHHW-bw/w300-h400/Volunteer+Park+photo.jpg) |
Here's a photo of the scene: the challenge of organizing a messy mass of foliage! |
Even so, I’m happy with what I accomplished at this size,
and I don’t think I would have been able to finish a drawing from life with
this level of value depth in the same length of time (about two hours) if I had chosen a larger composition. When I
mentioned my ambivalence, Kristin pointed out that because my values are
strong, it would be easy to make a new drawing at any size I choose by using
the small one as a study. She said that a strong value study done from life contains
more information and is therefore more useful than a photo of the same scene.
Good to know!
Your fir tree really stands out well. This class sounds like it is a great one. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm really enjoying it!
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