Branches

 

Woodchester Beech
Watercolour on Paper
24.5cm x 15.5cm (9.75" x 6")

Branches is the fourth topic in the Tree Techniques chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

This post has been a long time coming. The topics in this chapter are continuing to be challenging and educational. I made a few false starts on this subject trying to paint winter trees in sunsets. I’ve also been distracted by my new YouTube channel - Mark Bateman Art.

There are two videos about this painting: 

• Creating a Blurred Soft-Focus Background in Watercolour 
• Painting a Textured 3-Dimensional Tree in Watercolour

The blurred soft-focused background is painted with the same technique I used in the post about painting A Fuzzy Background.

I gave the tree some form with a modelling wash (mostly light grey with some dark in the shadows) and then slowly built up the shape and texture in layers using drybrush.

The finishing touch was to add some foreground leaves in gouache.

Hopefully, creating videos will become less time consuming and I will be able to get back to drawing and painting.