12 Jul 2010

Pine Tree

I did this quick ink and watercolour sketch of some pine trees in my garden after reading a chapter of The Zen of Seeing by Frederick Franck. He was writing that the only way to get the hang of drawing anything is close and prolonged observation to the extent where you almost become the object you're drawing.

It's a lovely book and tells me I have a long way to go. But I've started on the journey which is good. And I'm enjoying the way closely observing things slows my thought processes down and leads me nearer to experiencing 'now'.

13 comments:

  1. Awesome drawing! =) Something about tree drawings...always so serene, and takes the viewer another step closer to mother nature. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the loose lines you have in this sketch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your tree is so beautifully and elegantly rendered!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love all those wavy branches - very nice feel to this sketch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for your visit to my site and your comment - you prompted me to learn more about RSS feeds and subscriptions. I've been working on it and am happy to say I have added the option of subscribing to the site and to comments in a sidebar... fingers crossed it's all up and running!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love your pine tree. It is just lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is a great way to describe the drawing process. It IS certainly in drawing that I know I feel the most 'zen'...the rest of my life, that's another story!

    Beautiful drawing. Love the selective use of color!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love that you focused on the pine, with only hints of other foliage surrounding it. Your pine looks so simply sketched, yet you managed to capture its essence. Definitely a zen thing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I noticed the same thing Raena did in the focusing on the pine tree with hints of what's behind it. I like it very much! nancy

    ReplyDelete
  10. So much truth his words about drawing...it is only by closely "looking" and not subjecting our eyes to see what we want to see or see what we've always imagined certain things to look like...do we finally begin to draw what we actually see. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like your tree. I don't know about feeling the looking. I know the thing that helped me the most was Bert Dobson's line in his book Keys to Drawing that we should "draw what we SEE". A light went off in my head over that statement. If what you get out of this book does that for you it will be wonderful. Sometimes one thing clicks for one person and something else for another. We certainly have enough books available to try out!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is wonderful. I really like this drawing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a treat your blog is - I just love all of these charming sketches and paintings. :)

    ReplyDelete