Sketch Book Series: Pruned Fig Tree (November 2011)
In this sketch, I used a gray watercolor wash to accentuate the pen and ink portrait of the fig tree. The issue was to create a homogeneous background
Tag Archives: fig tree
Sketch Book Series: Fig Tree (March 2010)
I sketched this fig tree many times. This is among my first attempts. It is worth while to draw the same subject time after time. One can use different techniques, or practice the same ones over and over. The change over time is an improvement in one’s vision.
Thirsty Fig Tree
It’s been pretty dry out here in California. The fig tree in the back yard seems to be wilting. It has been doing so all summer. Usually, the onset of autumn begins one or two yellow leaf among the lush green leaves. Today the fig tree looked like yesterday’s limp salad. I began this study […]
Trimmed
Lately, we’ve been awakened to an annoying buzzing sound. The leaf blowers out here in California are annoying enough (haven’t they heard of rakes?), but this was even worse. I got up to look and there was a guy on top of a palm tree, calmly cutting log after log, moving down as he shortened […]
Fig Season Opens
Fig Tree Drawing Season, that is… (past attempts may be seen here: Vintage Fig Tree, Fallen Fig Leaves, Abstract Fig Leaf, Screened Fig Tree) It is too tempting to pass up. When I go get my morning coffee, the light is just right on the fig tree. The branches are dark and it seems that […]
Fig Tree in Winter Light
Today’s watercolor experiment: All the leaves are gone from the fig tree in the back yard. The weather has not inspired too many photographs lately. It has either been too foggy or overcast. However the other morning, the light glanced off the fig tree in a way that just made me want to snap a picture. […]
Last Leaf
Before the torrential rains that stripped all the leaves from the trees in the back yard, I took a snap of the fig tree next door. Most of the leaves had already dropped off, but there were several left. Although the photograph doesn’t portray what I saw very well, I used it as a template for my watercolor […]
Screened Fig Tree
Today’s watercolor experiment: It has been raining here for the past week. Yesterday’s experiment was a rendition of persimmon and fig leaves against a dark, wet background. Today, I painted another view of the rainy outdoors from a different perspective: through a screen. Here is the reference photo: Process: My first thought on approaching this […]
Vintage Fig Tree
Today’s vintage watercolor is mostly a pen and ink sketch. I used to spend hours trying to draw the fig tree in the back yard. You can see that this one was drawn at the end of fall. (Yes, autumn does come to California.) I remember being relieved that there weren’t many leaves to draw. […]
