ART — INSPIRATION — NAÏVE ART — NATURE — RECIPROCAL

A Drawing a Day: Trees are Treasures

Tree Art — Nature — Friday, January 27th

Naïve art

I often wonder what people in other cultures make of movements in art. Surely art movements do not penetrate the whole world.

Art history is a fascinating subject. I studied it a little at A Level, and then decided to focus on creative writing, and, later, reading English and gaining my BA. I would like to devote more time to reading about different art movements and sharing them with you on my publication alongside my art. To read my first attempts in this series I am calling, ‘A Drawing a Day’ go to ‘The Difffference’.

Today, I thought it would be nice to share this story with the readers of ‘Reciprocal’, a wonderful community of positive, reciprocative writers.

Perhaps you will join me on this journey

The drawing above is another pen and ink which I created decades ago using ink and a light box to redraw the subject.

We are discovering, or rediscovering, that real treasure is in nature. And nothing is more important and valuable than an ancient tree which can store water, and give oxygen for several people.

I have always adored trees, and I have written about them several times on Medium since I began writing in April 2022. My most recent tree story was very popular on ‘Reciprocal’. Read it here. (If you are interested in statistics, this was one of my top for responses, and a good earner for me, so I think it resonated with many readers.)

One of the focuses of any art course is to take a look at a subject before you draw it; to observe the play of light on it; to study your subject before you draw it.

Today, I was walking through some local woodland which I photographed a few months ago. Sadly several tall trees which look to be around 80 years old have been cut down. I suppose they are diseased although the council in our area have not put up any information about this yet.

I photographed the stumps of one of them, as I was walking through the woodland this morning. It is a sad moment.

When out walking, I like to observe the trees in my neighborhood, and to recognise the individual trees. Sometimes, I am confused; are those gum trees or mimosa? We have several in private gardens where I live. Well, whatever they are, I like the way the grey trunks remind me of the legs of elephants.

I have observed many trees planted close together and in rings like the ones depicted above in my drawing. When I drew the trees I have featured, I was going for an impressionistic and naïve feeling to the drawing. So, as discussed in a story earlier, which I will link to later, I am less concerned with whether my drawings are realistic with the depth that observing light playing on things gives us, and warm colours coming forward, cool colors receding, types of tricks we can obtain if we were studying art, for example. I have learnt about these, as my art A Level was nearer a degree level course.

The category, naïve tends to demonstrate a type of art, rather than ignorance about art although the description suggests the artist has not had a formal education.

When I use this method for drawing, I want to create a mood, predominantly.

When I started drawing this series of nature drawings several decades ago in my twenties, I was also writing a book about fairies, and I wanted to create the feeling of magic and wonder that nature gives us. I think it is a childlike wonder – where every drop of dew on a leaf, or cobweb laced with frost excites us when we are fortunate enough to spend our childhood out in nature in all weathers, as I was. Of course, I could have gone into more detail and created the cobwebs for you as well. Perhaps that will be my next challenge for the future.

In this drawing, we have stones in the foreground, the fairy ring of slightly swamped trees in the middle with poppies surrounding them, and in the distance, water; swirling, grass, and a bank of cloud over to the right. This naïve style is discussed in my previous work: “A Drawing a Day: Sunday in Nature: naive art”

Thank you for showing an interest in my work.

I would like to share this very creative and inspiring person with you today, fellow artist and writer Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar — go there to find a story that speaks to you.

To join Medium, please use my referral link below. You will gain access to a wealth of other writers, and you will be helping me to continue writing, as I benefit from a share of your subscription:

Why not take a look at some other great writers who are also published on the ‘Reciprocal’ publication?

Jan Sebastian has written a great tribute, which I enjoyed returning to this morning. Find that here.

Another story I particularly enjoyed this week was this one:

Here is a novel take on an old story from Me Writes which I re-read today:

‘The Unpredictability of Medium Keeps Me Up on My Toes’. I love the title.

Thank you for showing up to the page every day. Thank you to all the ‘Reciprocal’ editors: Dr.PreetiSingh — SahilPatel — Yana Bostongirl

Hermione