I remember the big white Paper Birch tree that my parents planted in their front yard. As kids, we took its lovely shade and beautiful white bark for granted. It was a shame when it became diseased and had to be chopped down.
I planted a River Birch in my yard a few years ago. It is supposed to be more resistant to disease. It has a light pink bark that peels. I love how it dances in the wind like yesterday when I snapped this photo. It’s leaves are starting to change from green to gold and look dazzling against this brilliant blue sky:
It was my inspiration to play with patterns in one of my sketchbooks.
I started with loose sketches of leaves in Neocolors (water soluble crayons) and then painted yellow india ink over the leaves. I also added a blue background with the india ink – using Dr. Ph. Martin’s colored ink. I have never “painted” ink on before – how fun!
I finished it by gluing some of my Gelli-printed deli paper on top with a glue stick:
It was very relaxing to just “play” and I encourage you to give it a try! 🙂
Did you have a favorite tree when you were a child? I’d love to hear about it!
Happy Experimenting! 🙂
