Beech Trunks

©Robin Edmundson, 'Beech trunks', watercolor, 16 x 12 inches.  Framed $395.  

 

The trees never fail to bring me in.   My daily walk takes me through some heavily forested areas, some pastureland, some open fields, some small wetland - all within just a couple of miles of here.   

The flora and fauna vary according to the habitat, which makes me very happy.  I love the variety and endless flow of new things to get to know. 

The trees along the road are targets for the county bush hog so most of them have multiple trunks.   The bush hog got them one year, but during hard times, the county didn't mow them the following year.  If the weather is right, that's enough time for a strong root system to put up multiple trunks.   

They're beautiful and interesting and full of surprises. 

[This is another version of 'Place to Rest', which I posted in May]

Sycamore Series

Sycamore study #730, watercolor, 9 x 12 inches

I've been painting a lot of pictures of trees.   I have a favorite sycamore along our creek.  It is damp and covered with moss and vines.

The trick here is to suggest the idea of woods without spelling out all that chaos.   Lots of marks.  

Here is the second version: 

Sycamore study #731, 9 x 12 inches

The paint did more of the heavy lifting here and I'm in love with the stuff going on just to the left of the trunk. 

Now to try it bigger.  Much bigger.

Next version:

©Robin Edmundson, 'Sycamore - 733', watercolor, 18 x 24

Painting something that much larger requires a rethinking of many aspects of the piece.  Mostly it means larger brushes and a lot more paint preparation.   I like this more the more I sit with it.  I like the light, the moss, the balance of paint runs and marks, the lights and darks.  It feels like a friend. 

I'll be submitting this to the Hoosier Salon this year.   

Russell's Tree

©Robin Edmundson, 'Russell's Tree', watercolor 18 x 24 inches.

We have a beautiful crabapple tree in our yard that blooms gloriously each May.  It smells divine and draws thousands of pollinators of all kinds to each.   The air is literally abuzz from the moment the first bloom opens. 

I've never tried painting it before.   All those blooms confuse my eye and I'm not confident in simplifying a subject like that.

In the spirit of saying just enough but not everything, I tried anyway, with a more restrained approach - just to see what that was like. pushing the extremes of the lights and darks, leaving out everything else but the tree and the grass.

I'm undecided about how successful it is and will likely sit with it for a few weeks before I touch it again.

I'd love to hear your opinion...Is it done?

River Locust

©Robin Edmundson, 'River Locust', watercolor, ink and gouache, 12 x 9 inches.  
[Available framed, $280]

This is another in that super fun tree series I've been working on all winter.  I am in love with the process of combining ink and water and watercolor and watercolor sticks and gouache and the whole runny wet mess.   These are so fun!

River locusts, for a hundred years, were the most common wood used out here for fence posts.  The wood is dense and lasts.   Ironically, the branches are thin and brittle and you do not want to be under one when the wind blows.   Those thorns can be several inches long and sharp.   Taking one of these trees down is no easy feat.

In Full Bloom

© Robin Edmundson, 'Bluebell Wood, Full Bloom', watercolor and ink, 14 x 10 inches.
Framed to 20 x 16 inches.  $375.

I know it's too early for bluebells, but that delicious color just calls to me.   I've been thinking about my trees in different seasons, trying to figure new ways to combine favorite subjects in a new way.

Still some work to do, but I'm having fun doing it.

Trees, trees, trees

It all started with this tree.   I'd been thinking about a demonstration I had seen of Anne Blockley's - free and expressive - just watching it made my heart sing.   She used a combination of watercolor, ink and watercolor sticks.

Our woods are full of sycamores.  I walk through them every day - we have become friends - and as I worked, one appeared on the page.  Moss and vine covered with all the beautiful chaos that is the woodland of southern Indiana. 

More of these trees have shown up in my work lately.  I can't wait to show you!

October Oaks

© Robin Edmundson, 'October Oaks', watercolor.

October is my favorite month!   So much color, so many shapes, such fabulous light.

Our oak trees put on quite a show here and they use aaaallll the colors.   How can I not be inspired?

We're likely going to get our first frost tonight.  Today I'll bring the bay tree and rosemary pots inside. I took down the hummingbird feeders yesterday. It's time to stock up on birdseed and suet for the winter. It won't be long until we hear the sandhills flying south for the season. 

I have a goal this winter to get over to the Goose Pond observation building and do some painting of the birds.  Sounds like fun, right?

Tree Study #9

© Robin Edmundson, 'Tree Study #9', watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

Another fun tree study!   Framed in a conservation quality white mat, white frame.  22 x 18 inches.  $150
.

Tree Study #8

© Robin Edmundson, 'Tree Study #8', watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

I've done a few more color studies and I'm in love with the twisty trunk on this one.   Framed, 22 x 18 inches.    Conservation quality white mat in a white frame.   $150.

Tree Study #4

Another tree study.   I like this one.  It has character.

Colors:  Fr. ultramarine blue, viridian, new gamboge, quin magenta, quin bt orange.

Aside from the color harmony learning, I'm having fun exploring a more minimal technique of suggestion.  It's hard for me to keep a light hand, and I need more practice.

Tree Study #3

© Robin Edmundson, 'Color study: tree', watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

Another fun tree/color study.   This time it reminded me of spring cherry trees, so I put fallen flowers on the ground.

Colors:  viridian, hansa yellow, quin magenta, bt umber, cobalt.

Color Study Trees

I've been doing some of these color studies on tree forms and I have to tell you that I'm in love with the whole process.  

My color wheels live on my studio desk and the first thing I do is grab one and pull out a color shape - triad, square, rectangle... and do a sample card with the colors.  

Then I look at the tree and decide which color to use as my darkest value and which for my lightest and plan my shapes around that.

So. Much. Fun.

As I finish more I'll post.   The colors I used here are: quin burnt orange, viridian, French ultramarine blue, new gamboge.



If you're interested in color theory and want to learn more, I can help you out.   My calendar has a list of the color and dyeing classes I'm teaching this year.  I've got a 3-day color workshop in April and a half day color harmonies class in May.   You can register and pay right from my new website's shop.  There's a significant discount if you register early.   Email me if you have questions.

Morning Promenade, Late November

© 2016 Robin Edmundson,
Morning Promenade, Late November [final version]
watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

A couple of weeks ago I was weaving early in the morning and as the sun came out from behind the trees, the chickens happened to walk across the yard outside the studio windows.   The light hit the grass in a golden wedge and the chickens walked across in single file like dancers on a stage under beautifully backlit leaves.

It was gorgeous.

I did a quick sketch and thought about it for a few days before I had a chance to paint and it took a few drafts to figure some things out.  

Drafts are good.  They let you try things out in different ways.   I don't worry about 'ruining' one of these drafts any more than I worry about 'ruining' my favorite song if I decide to sing it a bunch of different ways.    If I can sing that song 12 times, then I can paint this scene 12 times.   The more you practice, the easier it gets.

© 2016 Robin Edmundson, 
Morning Promenade, Late November [Study #1]
watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

This was the first draft.   I really liked how the branch reached across the paper - very Japanese.  But it wasn't right.   Too much paper on the right.  Too brown all over.   The tree needed to be more vertical.

© 2016 Robin Edmundson, 
Morning Promenade, Late November [Study #2]
watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

So I decided to try again with a vertical format and more green in the grass.

I liked this one a lot more, but the leaves weren't crisp or bright enough and the tree really should have gone all the way to the bottom of the composition.  Also, I didn't like the rooster.     I could have cropped it up, but the leaves still weren't right, so I gave it another go.

© 2016 Robin Edmundson, 
Morning Promenade, Late November [final version]
watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

Better tree.  Better leaves.   Better light on the chickens. Better tree bark.  Better grass.

I'm calling this set finished.  

Colors: cobalt blue, quinacridone burnt orange,  new gamboge, Mission burnt sienna, raw umber, a touch of viridian in the rooster's tail and a touch of permanent alizarin crimson for the combs.

Walnut Tree

We cut down two walnut trees a few weeks ago.   This is what one looked like the afternoon it was cut.  

No doubt from that center that this is walnut. 

Over time, the wood oxidizes and the whole cut surface goes pretty brown.  

Notice how wet it looks.   Trees draw sap down from the twigs, not up from the roots.   The stump didn't release sap at all, but all the logs did. 

Hackberry Bark

We've been cutting down a few trees around the house.   This is the bark from a hackberry tree.  

I could look at it all day long.  Click the pic for a larger view.

Woodpecker Tree

Something's been working this dead tree over.   I'm guessing a woodpecker, but if you recognize that this artwork is from something else, shout it out in the comments.   I've been wrong before.

Must be something really tasty in the center of this tree. 

Dead Tree Dirt

Yes, this is just a bucket of dirt. 

I ran out of potting soil to start my seeds in but I had read somewhere that dead hollow trees have great dirt at their bases and so Lily volunteered to go check out our hollow beech trees.   Sure enough, she found loads of this stuff, so she brought a bucketful back and we used it in our milk jugs.  

It's beautiful, isn't it.

Tree Damage

My favorite autumn olive tree [Elaeagnus umbellata] was laid low by the recent winter troubles.    All that heavy snow just after the new year bent it right over.   The bending isn't a problem except that a lot of splitting occurred, too and around here that just means disease for a tree.  This tree has a date with the chain saw.

This is some of the damage.

Split limb.

The main trunk, laid on its side, split.

Here's the base of the main trunk - split pretty badly.  If you blow the pic up, you can see a lot of bird damage, too.   The woodpeckers and sap suckers must really love this tree.

Here's a close up of some of those bird holes.  I think they look pretty cool.


We'll try to salvage part of the tree.  It's a good bearer - thornless, too - and I don't want to lose it.

New Fruit Trees

I got four new little fruit trees from Stark Bros this fall.   They were on sale so I got two plums, a fig [Chicago Hardy] and an apricot.   They're planted on a slope between the studio/veg garden and the upper yard/chicken coop.   We planted 2 sweet cherries and a sour cherry there last year and if they all take, we'll have a nice little orchard of trees whose fruit we can't easily get elsewhere around here.

For rabbit protection, we surrounded the trees with chicken wire and then stuffed them full of leaves for now.   We'll probably top dress the dirt with some chicken dirt to help encourage root growth.  

Guard Tree

Some trees stand sentinel.   Guard trees.  

This is one of them.  It's been dead for a while and there's a happy Virginia Creeper that's taking advantage up the center, but it hasn't softened it.

This tree is prickly, ready to block your advance.

It stands alone at the side of Highway 157 north west of Worthington, Indiana, just past a lovely place called ToothAcre.   [I'm not kidding.   One assumes that a dentist owns that property.]    I salute every time I drive by.