Tree gazing

I’ve been meaning to make some art based on my photographs and I finally got around to it. Part of my motivation was being reminded about the Twitter Art Exhibit: it’s an annual art show with artists of all calibres donating postcard-sized art which is then sold in aid of a particular charity. I have thought about sending something in previous years but just didn’t have the confidence in my own ability.

My original photo was taken around three years ago in a nearby park. It’s a big old tree and I love looking up through its twisty branches.

I used a grid to transfer the design onto paper, not something I’m sure I’ve done before, but I didn’t want to trace it. I decided to use watercolour as my main medium for this piece, and started with a wash of pale blue before painting in the branches and patches of leaves. I could have left it at that, but I wanted to add more depth to the colour and more texture, particularly on the leaves so I broke out my coloured pencils.

Working out when to stop was tricky; I reached a point where I couldn’t see anything obvious that would really benefit from more fiddling, removed the masking tape and took it off the board before I changed my mind.

I’m now pondering whether it’s good enough to send in for Twitter Art Exhibit. I have a couple of other photos I want to work from first, then I’ll choose…