A new term opens and I am using a photo taken in Australia when on my holiday there. The photo was taken a day or two after my arrival, and a first sight “a path through trees” may seem a tad ordinary. However these are gum trees, a source of endless fascination, their differing varieties, their pealing bark, their resilience, and I am hoping that I manage to get the colouring right. There are blue tones in the foliage in many trees, even as far south as Melbourne, (It’s winter, by the way) part of the subtle visual “otherness” I shall be seeking to pin down.
I’m using velour pastel paper which takes pastel strokes beautifully, and as I like the strokes to show, it collaborates with all its might. A light drawing in pastel delineated the trees – it was the placing of the trees which made this an appealing composition – then I indicated roughly, with as many darks as I could find, the foliage and the “stitching line” of darks in the near distance. With a few slashes of light on the trunks and darks for the shadows, the picture begins to emerge.
It does indeed. And so far, the blue/grey/green is coming through nicely..