How to Paint Trees without foliage

How to Paint Trees without foliage
Bare winter trees are probably one of the most difficult
things to paint in landscapes. It is important to learn
their form and the way the branches grow just like
medical students learn about the human skeleton. By
knowing the ins and out's of bare trees this will help
you with your trees with foliage as well. Many serious
figure drawing courses teach the students bone and
muscle structure before getting into the drawing part.
The same can apply to bare trees
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Anatomy of a Winter Tree
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Here are some
general points to
consider when
painting winter trees.
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• Make sure both sides of a limb don't run straight and parallel to each other
and/or other limbs. Avoid “V” shapes where tree limbs separate.
.
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• Add character by showing broken off branches, squirrel holes, bark peeling off,
leaves that didn't fall, etc. Make them look round by lightening the value where the
light hits and render reflected light on the shadow side. These add interest and give
your trees a personality. Some branches project outward towards you and some
further from you. The latter would lighten in value even if the branches were thick.
The closer ones would be darker. Check all negative shapes in between so they don’t
repeat (Check your blind spot).
Show cast shadows on
different areas of the
tree .
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• Preferably don't allow your trees to shoot up straight. A leaning tree is
more interesting and will form a much better negative shape between it
and the frame.
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• Don't overdo the amount of branches. Simplify them to the bare essentials. Open
areas are good for breathing space. Because the eye can get trapped in all the linear
movement caused by leafless branches. You may want to consider dry brushing the
silhouette that results from many twigs grouped together. Also you may want to melt
them into the background.
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• Snow stuck to branches is a lovely sight. Trees can use “socks” in the winter. It
avoids the dualism of the both sides.
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• Make sure your branches don't depart from the trunk at equal angles and
from the exact same side. Lighten the values of the trees as they climb higher
(Atmospheric perspective applies to height as well). Make the more distant
ones lighter in value as well. Place visual stops at the edge to avoid the eye
from leaving the painting. Showing bark peeling off adds character and
eliminates two rigid lines on both sides of tree trunks.
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• Adding a few leaves that survived the high winds of late autumn, it will help
offset the monotony and add interest. Also this will avoid the eye from
following the branches right to the top and out the painting.
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Tree branches make excellent subliminal pointers and can also somewhat block
the viewer from wandering elsewhere too much.
Notice how one of tree branches points right at the mill.
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• Bare trees also are excellent for adding another plane to a background but
still provide windows to look back into the distance. In other words, they
work great for overlapping something which helps create depth.
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•When placing bare trees in a grouping, make an effort to avoid repeating
their widths. Think Goldilocks! Mamma, Papa, and Baby Bear.
The two front trees are
two equal, ending up
being cloned.
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Think of your bare trees like freeways. The major trunk has the width of
several lanes and as the freeway subdivides into smaller highways, it will
get more narrow. The same is true with tree branches. When these start
to subdivide they get thinner and lighter in value until they practically
disappear in the bright sky . If you look at any tree and follow its trunk
until the very top, you will see it ends up being just a small twig.
Mention Chris Angel’s trick
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Advice on brushstrokes:
•If you dry brush the smaller twigs it will give more of a bark feeling
and the tree won’t look so rigid.
•Lay the rigger or liner brush flat on the surface and tap to form the
twigs. This is very effective in watercolor.
•Also dry brushing some areas of your trees creates nice texture.
•Credit card scraping works great for bare trees and fence posts.
•Try painting thin twigs with a business card. You will be surprised how
thin you can get them.
•Why not use a pastel pencil for very small twigs? Besides the pastel
pencil marks will break up nicely on the watercolor paper surface.
•You can use oil pastels on acrylic and oil paintings.
•For the thicker trees branches, brush sideways not vertically. This will
give you uneven lines.
•Try negative painting your bare trees. You will end up with some great
results.
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Example of negative
painting
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