Arbor Day sketches

Yesterday being Arbor Day we did a lot of talking about trees—about how they invite wildlife to our yard, about how they provide us with shade, about how they clean our air and beautify our space—and we did a lot of looking at trees, too, so we decided to try sketching them. With lead and colored pencils in hand we set up our chairs in the front yard and started sketching. In her illustrated version of Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, Susan Jeffers wrote about growing up with her artist mother, about learning from a young age that shadows are not simply black, that the tea kettle on the stove was not a solid color after all, the reflection in it not merely a rectangle. What we actually see is difficult to commute onto our paper, and to get started we first have to see. To actually see. We talked about shapes—is a tree really a ball on a stick? We talked about colors—is a trunk really brown? I haven't sketched like that since my days of wildlife observation in college, but it was something I always loved and it felt special to share it. We had a good time.

Comments

[sarah in the woods]

Lovely art. i especially like the first one.

[Helena]

I love this. The quiet, contented energy in the photos, you both sitting in the sun, drawing, reflecting. I love the idea of seeing things in a new way (and will have to check out that book! It sounds lovely and that's one of my favourite poems). I think those drawings are so sweet. And I adore trees. So your post made me happy. Thank you for that!

[Phyllis at All Things Beautiful]

I love the first photo! What a time to treasure. Lovely sketches, too!