Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

Trees are worth drawing.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

Last night I decided to go out and do a little watercolor sketching. I took my Sennelier Le Maxi block of sketch paper (6"X6") and a set of Prang water colors. I prefer using what some might think as "cut-grade" art materials for some reason. I have a small Windsor and Newton traveling watercolor set, but I prefer the vividness of Prangs colors and how quickly they react with the brush and water.

The light was fading fast. What to draw?

I walked across the road to my grandparent's farm and sat at the end of the driveway, just off the main gravel road. I decided to paint a couple of my grandparent's evergreens. When my grandparents were still alive, the evergreens were in much better shape. We lost quite a few in a storm a few years ago, and those that remain just look a little tough.

But they were worth painting.

Evergreen trees are fun to draw and paint. The way their boughs jut out from the tree, like interlocking scales in a sense, makes them a perfect lesson in overlap and organic line. As I was painting, a truck came down the road. It was one of those club-cabs, and had quite a few people inside. I suppose the sight of me sitting on the ground, painting, was an odd one, and so the truck very noticeably slowed down and the people inside began looking in the direction I was looking. The wanted to see what I was painting.

I've had it happen before, when I'm outside drawing or painting, and someone comes up to see what I'm working on.

"What are you painting?" they ask, after scanning the area I'm looking at and evidently not seeing anything that stands out and seems worth painting.

"The grass," I might say, or trees.

"Why would you want to paint that?"

I sometimes think people believe only buildings, tractors or things other than the mundane are what ought to be painted. But, as in this case, the old trees are worth painting.

Having just a few more minutes left before I knew I'd have to head back to the house, I turned around and faced the opposite direction, our farm yard. I decided to paint the old chicken coop and a tree growing up behind it. As I was painting, a doe and her fawn wandered into the grass near it.

I confess, then, that I've officially created my first deer painting. I have opinions about "deer" art, but in this case, it was unintentional. And they don't really look like deer. More like brown blobs with legs and ears.

All in all, a good evening of watercolor sketching. I know I need to get out and exercise my on-site painting and drawing skills more; I'm a little rusty. I like using watercolors because the results are fast, but they also require a little more planning than when working with other paints or with pencils since they are transparent and "mistakes" (which I prefer to call "creative license") are difficult to cover up.

| You can purchase these sketches: Evergreens, Chicken Coop |