I spent most of yesterday outside in a forest. My students had an outdoor day, practicing orienteering. I sat by one of the controls in a deep pine forest and of course I used my time out there for drawing.
I know many artists find a lot of inspiration among tall trees out in the wild, and I enjoy drawing landscapes on the whole, but pine forests... I don´t know, they make me feel a bit claustrophobic. I mean, I like picking berries, mushrooms, or just walking around in them, but when it comes to drawing I suddenly feel like the old saying (at least in Sweden) "I can´t see the forest for all the trees".
I kind of forced myself to just sit down and draw what´s in front of me. Pine-trees. How inspiring. They are so... vertical. All of them. I couldn´t seem to find any interesting rhythms to capture on paper, and no intriguing compositions either, so I just started drawing one tree - any tree in the bunch, really - and worked on from there. After a while I kind of got the idea that if nothing else, I could at least try to get the values right. The tree-trunks were darker than the background, but lighter towards the top, so I started working with short strokes of my dip-pen to make light and dark. And man, did I regret that before I was done. I think this drawing took me an hour and a half, at least. It´s 13.5x19.5 cm of tiny ink-marks, and it almost drove me crazy.
Now that it´s done, I kind of like it, though. I can actually see a rhythm in it now, AND I like the composition. It was worth it, after all, but I hate this kind of detailed, time-consuming way of drawing. Not looking at it, but doing it. I hate it because once I´ve started something like this, I can´t stop until it´s finished, I get caught in this obsessive drawing behavior, and by the time it´s done I´m exhausted and a bit angry because I even got the idea to start something so tedious...
Still, this drawing fills it´s space well. It´s on the first page of my new sketchbook, and it´s always a good feeling to fill that first page...
19 comments:
This is amazing. I can see why it drove you crazy; yet what a beautiful result.
Nina - This drawing is absolutely lovely. I admire you for sticking with it -- even when you are frustrated. I give up very easily. Sticking with things has its merits!! Penny
Attractive your work.
Hardship externals.
I understand your endurance.
Moreover,
There is a similar problem also in Japan.
There are a lot of man-made forests.
They are tedious still sceneries.
while you might have found it tedious work, i find it a beautiful picture and would love to be there. but i guess that just gives away my midwest/country background -- rather to be surrounded by nature and stillness than crowds and noise.
beautiful work! It's been a long time since I've done any real pen and ink. you've inspired me! I shall have a go at it very soon.
What a way to kick off the new sketchbook. Inspiring to say the least
It is beautiful. I know it is a lot of verticle lines but with the right value tone there is a lot of depth which I find interesting.
It's lovely...I know what you mean about getting caught up in too much detail or a technique that drives you nuts. I started a portrait of my dog in pointilism-with a technical pen. It was going pretty well, but I got soooooooooo tired. I never did finish it. Good for you for sticking with it.
I love the light showing at the top of the trees and I think the verticalness (don't know if that is a real word!) really works here. Sorry it was so horrible to draw but I hope you feel it was worth it, it's wonderful.
Your hard work did pay off. Very classic and simply beautiful.
It only took you an hour and a half? I personally think you captured so much in that hour. Some times persistance pays off. Great job.
just lovely -- definitely framable, is that a word? I'd be quite proud if I were you...
...a v e r y good classical drawing! My comliments!
...by the way...we have the same saying in German...we can´t see the wood because of the many trees...
Nina, what a beautiful drawing - I have a great love of trees too and this really caught my attention. I've been to Sweden twice and your drawing reminded me of the beautiful countryside there.
I think it has a wonderful rhythm to it -- the vertical strokes strengthen the feeling of height in the trees. There's a cold, dark feeling about -- PERFECT for a pine forest. And it looks like it was more meditative than tedious...
:-)
This came out really wonderful. Thanks for posting all your feelings on doing this piece. In one sense, it probably has a unique place for you in how frustrating it was to come by.
This seems like a real masterpiece to me. Elegant, detailed and technically perfect, both in accurately capturing the scene and your technique in getting it down. I would be thrilled to be able to draw like this!
Oh I wish this drawing wasn't in a sketchbook. It is wonderful. Has a historical woodcut look. Great composition and good use of negative space. Lovely.
This is beautiful-totally breathtaking! I grew up in the woods, and this brought back some memory-feelers for me. Really beautiful work. Also it reminds me of engraving :)
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