How my outdoor sketch developed

What happened when I went back to Highdown this week? In this blog post: how I got on drawing and painting a tree and how I thought it came out. It was quite busy, I wandered around where we had previously set up for a little while and decided on a spot in front of a big tree that had some very interesting pinky shadows. I loved the light falling on it, it had interesting multiple branches.

In the previous post I said how overwhelming it can be at first choosing a spot to paint or draw. In reality turning up at a popular spot can be. intimidating but I have quite a bit of experience in the past of setting up and painting outdoors but nevertheless it has been a while! It was busy, lots of children playing hide and seek and people wandering around. This was a little distracting so the other reason I chose this spot was it was a little quieter, away from all the blockbuster tulips!

This is the first time I have used my new Pochade box (more about that in another blog post). I set up under the shade of a tree to draw a tree in shade. I had made the decision to go for large interesting shapes (see previous post about this) This gave me a few issues - shadows falling onto my paper. All of these little things eventually get screened out as I settled down to study the tree in front of me.

I drew the tree in pencil, getting lost in how many strong shapes there were and editing out the top canopy of the tree. Effectively I had “zoomed” in, I had also left out a large portion of grass in the foreground. I was after strong shapes and shadows on the ground - this was the goal. This is how I developed the coloured sketch using watercolour

1. I painted in the light blue sky seen through the branches first

2. I painted in golden yellow and light green on the tree branches (this would be light hitting the tree branches later)

3. I painted pink in the area under the tree and back wall

4. Edited out a large dark mass of shrub behind the tree which would detract from the shape of the branches

5. Developed a lead in pink area from the grass to the area under the tree

6. Put in pale greens on both sides of path area

7. Started to build up darks for branches (which never seemed to get dark enough)

8. Re-established the pinks but the shape wasn’t right or the shadows

   
   

Finished, after dunking my brush in my tea by accident!

My result?

1. First go - decided it was fantastic to stand and paint it but wasn’t that pleased with the result.

2. Solution? Do more, the first is always disappointing!

3. Shapes were okay but could be better

4. Colours were elusive, the light changed on the tree all of the time so chasing shadows!

5. Shadows were hard to get dark enough

6. Subject was nice to draw but had too much in the background that had to be left in order to keep the shapes strong

7. Could crop it and just focus on the shadows below the tree

If you are wondering whether or not this is too complicated then I would say yes it definitely is but in a challenging way. The big BUT are the benefits of being outside and having a go outweigh the results. Listening to birdsong and, yes even children running around enjoying themselves, was lovely and sipping on my tea deciding on colour made my day!

Happy painting Jane