Trees

Tree Sketch 2-12-23

| Patricia

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

Lately I’ve been on a tree-drawing binge. This tree concept framework is based on some of my vintage pastels (see thumbnail below) worked in a style that I want to revitalize. I’ll build on this concept with various mediums going forward.


Art copyright Patricia White 2023.

Old Man Tree – January 31, 2023

| Patricia

“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” ~ Thomas Fuller

Another tree sketch created in the same session as the Spotty Tree sketch, spurred by finding an old oil painting from 1972 I had gifted to my dad, retrieving it while cleaning out his apartment after his passing in 2006..

Old Man Tree began as a normally configured tree but I noticed some facial-like features in part of the image and it quickly transformed into a tree character with craggy twig-fingered ‘hands’ at the end of his ‘arm’ branches and twisted aging trunk ‘body’.

He may become a character in an adventure book that I’m writing.

Artwork copyright Patricia White 2023.

Spotty Tree – January 31, 2023

| Patricia

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”  ~ Kahlil Gibran 

My interest in sketching trees was ‘twigged’ when I recently unearthed an old oil painting of a tree from a storage closet in my studio, and went on a tree drawing spree. This is Spotty Tree, drawn January 31, 2023.

This is the vintage painting that spurred this theme. Painted in 1972. Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Thinking Ahead to Spring

| Patricia

ART FIX: I’ve been making art in small sketchbooks for the past while as my studio is in process of being moved. I have a few smallish sketchbooks stacked up in my “BEDOFFICE” along with pencils, paints and pastels and have been trying to do at least a couple sketches or concept ideas every day, morning and night. These sketches may stand on their own or become inspiration for a larger work later on. This little painting, THINKING AHEAD TO SPRING, is a tiny 3-1/2” x 4” piece painted using water media on December 26th.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2021.

Daily Sketchbook

| Patricia

This site is dedicated to maintaining a daily habit of making art. It may contain pages from my sketchbooks, examples from past work, conceptual ideas and inspirational influences, I have several small sketchbooks and journals in my ‘bedoffice’, with a variety of drawing and painting materials stacked alongside, so I can get an idea down quickly when it is fresh in my mind. One really CAN make art on just about anything. This quick ‘fantasy landscape’ sketch was drawn with a set of 72 half stick Faber Castell soft pastels and may serve to inspire a larger work down the line. Has a bit of a woodblock feel to it I think. This cool little 7” x 9” book was originally purchased as a small photo album. It has thick black paper separated by glassine-like cover sheets, perfect for protecting soft pastel sketches. The photo paper however is UNFORGIVING, having a shallow tooth that fills quickly with each stroke, disallowing more layered colour. Still, I will be sad when this little book, with it’s bright woven fabric cover, is full but want to get a HIGHER QUALITY BLACK PAPER to continue EXPERIMENTING with light on dark work.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2021.

Chalk Forest

| Patricia

When the cares of the world weigh heavy, I debrief my psyche by making art. This is a little 6” x 9” soft pastel sketch drawn in a small photo album on not-so-friendly shallow-toothed absorbent black paper that can only take two layers of pastel before its pores are full. This is CHALK FOREST a study for a series of larger abstract-expressionistic landscape pieces.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2021.