Learning Landscape Painting in Watercolour
stand of birches study small
While on an early morning run this summer, I was struck by the beauty of a stand of young birch trees, and I've been painting them ever since.
birch study 2
Birches tend to grow in clusters, and around here they never seem to grow very old. In our yard the older birch trees are always peppered with woodpecker holes, so maybe that's why they die at middle age.
birch study 1
I've really struggled with finding a way to translate a cluster of birches into a full landscape scene, and I've tried a few different arrangements and styles.
Every one left me feeling like I wasn't quite "there" yet. Though I love the trees in the study above.
Byway Birches
rusting comfortably
Tree Lines | watercolour by Angela Fehr
Finally I decided that I would embrace what I love most about watercolour and just have fun with lines and colours, abstracting my background as much as I could (see below). I am happy with the result and think it shows a good beginning for a new direction in my landscape painting style.
"Tree Lines" watercolour, 14" x 18"