Thursday, May 21, 2020

Big Tree, UCD

So here is the big tree on Quarter Sheet. I have two versions.
I like them both. I hope you do too.

And I think I will go back to this big tree in University College Dublin, and when this is all over, and we don't have to stand 2 meters apart anymore, I will embrace it, forming a ring with my friends all around it. Given its size, I suspect it saw the Spanish flu epidemic and probably a lot more, maybe the Great Famine? I don't know enough about trees. I am just in awe at how they can stand there, in all weather, through the years. They are our past. They are our future. Let's plant more and make this planet a better place.

This one is on Arches rough paper - very thick paper. Either 450 or 600 gsm. One of those expensive sheets of paper you keep for a special occasion. And then there is a pandemic, and you can't go to a shop, so you have to use what's there!!


And you know me, I just love watercolour for its own sake - how it mixes, how it shines, how it bleeds. So the next few images are just closeups that bring me joy!






And this one on cold press Bockingford 300 gsm. Initially it buckled quite a bit, but it settled beautifully when it dried. You can still see the effect of the buckling under the darker band at the base of the building. I just couldn't get a straight line. 
Colours are mostly Hansa Yellow Medium and Moonglow. But also mixes of ultramarine and transparent red oxide and whatever was in my palette at the time!

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