Tip of the month – July, 2006

With summer now here, the challenge of painting landscape has taken another direction. Trees are in full foliage. I know that there are two categories of trees – deciduous trees and coniferous trees. Within in these two groups, there are a multitude of different trees. As a painter, I choose to study the shapes of the trees at a chosen site and to paint them according to their shape, and movement of their branches.

        

In Quebec, our many wooded areas display the two categories of trees. In the first image, deciduous and coniferous trees live in harmony in this crowded wooded area. In the second image, the trees have been planted in a park setting with more breathing space, but there are still a large variety of both types of trees. Green is the predominant hue. How does a painter handle summer foliage?

Landscape composition can be divided into three sections – background, middle ground, and foreground. There are exceptions to this arrangement such as intimate scenes. I am looking at the landscape with spatial depth that includes a sky area.

This image shows all three space divisions. In it we can see how the value contrast is considerably reduced in the background. Background is also missing detail. As we approach the middle ground and foreground, the contrast and detail increase.

        

This photo shows trees at a distance without detail. The sketch is a contour drawing of the distant trees. The painting is a wet-in-wet application to show distance with soft edges and minimal contrast in the tree area.

        

In this photo, the trees are in the middle ground and some detail can be seen. The contrast of light and dark has increased. Detail can also be seen in the contour sketch. The painting is done on dry paper, applying the colors wet beside wet. This allows for some lost edge shapes. In the middle ground, tree tops can be made to appear lacey and some openings in the foliage mass give the trees depth.

Image 3 starts to identify the individual tress with the addition of tree trunks. The placement of the trunk bases helps to explain the spatial depth in this tree grouping.

DEMO 1 shows some detail that would be found on trees in the middle ground. The brush strokes are loose and painted wet beside wet.

The foreground trees contain detail, value contrast, and texture. When studying the tree that is close to you, take note of the branch positioning relative to the trunk. Are the branches pointing skyward or horizontally or towards the ground? Some trees will have all three positions.

     
                          fan brush                 regular brush

The JANUARY 2004 tip page demonstrates some of the possible techniques for a deciduous tree. The JUNE 2003 tip page gives you an idea of the possibilities for the many greens of summer. Enjoy exploring trees this summer.

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