One more day looking at still life and then onto other things. The above ink and water-colour is a recent drawing from the trees project.

Method,

1 Paste leaves to the paper, nice and flat.

2 Splatter paint the background plus leaves with several colours, in many layers of water-colour paint, to create the seasonal or other effect which is desired.

3 Allow to dry properly. Remove leaves with a sharp knife, this leaves the leaf shapes in white profile, against the background.

4 Draw leaves with ink, using a very light cross hatch and smudge technique (more about that another day). Drawing the leaves by the application of many layers of this carefully applied ink work.

A rather lengthy but rewarding method, which is excellent for all this need to begin looking at things properly and by the time three sycamore leaves had been drawn, I was beginning to understand how they are made.