This afternoon, I went and sat on my stool down the road sketching my favourite tree.
We don't have many (any?) native deciduous trees in Australia but we do have trees with deciduous bark. Mostly the gum trees lose their bark in spring/summer time. I absolutely love watching the colour of the Angophora change during the year. The swatches along the bottom are the colours throughout the year (the brand new yellow bark starts turning orange very quickly) The rich intense red colour of the twisted branches in the late afternoon early summer sun never ceases to excite me! So I promise in December to get out there and sketch one! I did do a quick sketch in November last year when the bark was starting to come off - here
There is a real art to sketching Australian gum trees as their crowns are so open... I am only beginning to draw them but intend to draw many many more of them in the months and years to come!
Wonderful sketch again, of course I like all of your sketches. Australia seems like a far off landscape. I have a friend there named Luke Senior. He has Senior's Art supplies, maybe you know him or buy from him?
ReplyDeleteAnyway I love trees and wished I could get there to paint some of those. They sound challenging and looking at your interpretation very pretty. Thanks for sharing. Where's bear? hahaha.
Omigosh, Liz, thank you for this post! Fascinating...I had no idea the gum trees bark changed like that. The color chart is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteWow - to have a tree here that changes color like that, plus those twisted branches. I can see why this is your favorite! This is a great sketch - but so are the other two you linked for us; seeing that bark close up adds a new dimension to what I see here. These have a pretty leaf, too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great tree. And I love the colour swatch. Our Arbutus trees here, right on the edge of the coast of Vancouver, BC, like to shed their orange-red bark and reveal their green underneath. I wonder if it looks similar? I can't recall if it changes colour over time though. I know, I'll do a sketch this summer and I'll post it!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous tree and wonderful sketch layout!
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