Trees in Winter, Naked Trees or Sleeping Trees

This past fall I started on a new group of tree drawings.

Every winter I seem to be attracted to drawing or painting trees, sometimes I also call them sleeping trees, trees in winter or naked trees. At winter with little or no leaves they reveal their structure, sometimes organized, sometimes wayward sometimes organized musical exercises, or jazz.  I find myself looking for the lyrical movement best to meditate with ink and using patterning. I have been teaching art classes for almost 20 years.

Towards the end of the semester I work on small projects in class, so I can be available to students but not hovering over them. I began this series in my drawing class. I am inquisitive about my materials and I am constantly searching out new items or ways to work to inspire me and my students.

The ink pens I use are many, new ones are Sailor pens from Japan with refillable ink cartridges, micron pens of varying sizes and others.  I am a fan of pen nibs dipped into liquid ink but this paper is too soft a surface to drag needles across. I am using handmade papers and am trying new pens. The paper is from a summer sale at Magnolia Editions in Oakland. I am also using watercolor, and the paper is not watercolor paper, hence I am getting just faint coloration on these pieces.