Capturing Trees in Ink

Drawing Trees

Drawing Trees in Winter

Winter is the best time of year to research new trees to draw. The skeletal forms are mesmerising, whilst often challenging, due to the difficulty in extracting their form from the background. A specimen tree on the horizon with the sun glinting through makes an ideal subject to draw as a silhouette, but nature doesn’t often present this scene. Deciding on the composition usually takes place on site and involves preliminary sketching and the taking of numerous photographs. The images are taken from a distance to set the scene and then closeups for the trunk and branch configuration, plus bark details. Revisiting the location many times is usually necessary to glean particular information - rarely can one study contain everything required to transpose a true picture. The work is intense and detailed and executed in the studio.

The Drawing Technique

The process commences with serious editing, coupled with decisions about which trees to draw in silhouette and those to detail. The drawing technique employs a discipline of restricting the building of the form just to making monotone marks, rather than the employment of colour or shading, leading to a focussed study that is very time consuming to create. The mass of marks, varying in shape, strength and size, is repeated, then repeated. The approach to drawing is in a similar vein to that of the traditional building process of creating a sculpture with the rhythm of multiple marks both building and extracting until a form evolves from the ground. The technique is paradoxically quick in hand movement yet slow to evolve.

ABOVE -The Old Oaks, Felbrigg, Norfolk

Artist's Research

On a research visit to Felbrigg recently, a pair of old oaks at the front of the Hall stood out as worthy specimens. There was also a wonderful very old chestnut tree asking to have its character recorded before the next storm took another limb. These trees will studied at length then drawn for the Arboretum Collection where they will accompany the sycamore and beech at Felbrigg.

General Information

Jac Scott is multi-award winning artist and a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. She draws and paints what she loves: trees, wildlife, the countryside and seascapes that she discovers in Norfolk. The detailed drawings are shared as fine art giclée prints in limited and open editions. The artist retains the originals. The prints are made by specialist printers who are members of the Fine Art Trade Guild. A giclée print is a term used to describe a fine art digital printing process combining pigment based inks with high quality archival quality paper to achieve an inkjet print of superior archival quality, light fastness and stability.