Big Tree, UCD - thumbnails

Not so many thumbnails this time - a fairly simple subject. But I found it very useful to play with different options so that I could understand what mattered to me in this view. 

This amazing tree is in University College Dublin. It's between the old Philips plant and the Leinster Rugby building. It looks so old, and the low branches so heavy that they must put a lot of pressure on the main trunk. It's so beautiful. And it's surrounded by white fairly modern buildings. It's like no architect wanted to compete with it!

So I did 4 thumbnails in markers and 7 in watercolour. I was inspired by Uma Kelkar's painting with the zebra crossing as I was thinking about this. And since my photo had a crossing right in front of the tree, I thought it would be fun to incorporate it in the composition. Not sure how. But it's just fun to explore visual ideas.

And I discovered by watercolour thumbnail #5 that what matters to me is the light space between the two really big low branches on the right. It's really the wonder of how that tree is still standing today!