Domestic Sketching: Let’s Try Imagining A Pine Tree

It seems there will be a continuing series of sketches being done by this urban sketcher that have nothing to do with urban sketching.  I’m forcing myself to draw at my desk.  I’ve even cleaned it off so I don’t have to shove stuff out of the way to do it.  I’m going to call this domestic sketching and label results as such.

Anyways, my first sketch was a small, defoliated tree and I thought it only fitting that I should follow it up with a pine tree.  As it turned out, I drew two of them, the second coming simply because I wanted to try to do a classic Christmas tree shape.  Probably shouldn’t have cuz it looks out of place in this sketch, at least to me.  One thing I’ve noticed about sketching at home, with good light, a desk and a good chair.  The sketching is a whole lot easier.

Fabriano Artistico (7.5x11), Pilot Falcon

Fabriano Artistico (7.5×11), Pilot Falcon

8 thoughts on “Domestic Sketching: Let’s Try Imagining A Pine Tree

  1. I like this! Contrast of the two trees reminds me of Christmas present and Christmas past! And I love the idea of Domestic Sketching since at almost 84 I don’t get out much, so the title fits me perfectly.

    • I probably should have thought harder about that Domestic Sketching moniker. I was just trying to label sketches that I did that weren’t my normal location sketching. It does seems to have struck a chord.

  2. Larry, this is really delightful. The two trees compliment each other and make a lovely vignette. A good piece of artwork!

  3. I just happened upon this post …. ‘domestic sketching’ —- Hummmmm. For awhile I was getting hung up on whether something was a ‘field sketch’, one done from the computer (‘domestic sketching’), …. or half and half. I’m still careful about posting genuine field sketches when I post on Cathy Johnson’s ‘Sketching Nature’ blog, and otherwise I don’t try to have my sketches fit neat categories. Many of mine are started in the field and finished at home. I tend to try not to make my husband, Dale, wait on my sketching …. so off I go with another to finish later. Some get finished, some don’t. The important thing is to keep sketching … keep growing … keep enjoying and really seeing the world around me.

    For a long time I never sketched just from memory, … or ‘out of my just my head.’ but now I think just sitting down and sketching without something to look at has an important place too. I think it releases some creative juices. I’m not tied to the reference material. I’m better at creating an artistic composition.

    My only real rule is that if I draw using someone else’s photo, I always label that as such… and only post such a drawing with their permission.

    I like that you think about your sketching … makes me ponder too.

    …. and I like the two trees. I think it makes the gnarly one look more genuine.

    • I grabbed “domestic sketching” out of the air to simply distinguish between my location sketching and rest. I could have just as easily called it “stuff I didn’t do on location” but since I call what I do urban sketching, domestic sketching seemed an opposite. It’s pretty easy for me to ‘categorize’ in this way simply because I include as ‘urban sketching’ anything where the sketching is done on location. It’s often the case that I’ll slop on some color when I get home but I don’t bring home partially drawn sketches. I can see where this would be more difficult if you worked differently. In any case, I don’t think much about this. If I had I might have come up with a better term than domestic sketching (grin).

      I agree about drawing from the imagination. It stimulates the visual cortex to build a more robust catalog of shapes and textures if nothing else. As a biologist I’m baffled by artists who don’t talk about training the brain and instead rely upon vague, mythical phrases like ‘hand-eye coordination’ and ‘see like an artist.’ It’s the brain that must be trained. Hands and eyes have no learning capacity. I like your comment about not being tied to reference material. I am, and I think it’s largely because I haven’t done drawing from imagination.

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