On the way over to the Thanksgiving celebrations, I stopped by Elicott Creek Park to sketch some trees. I used to swim there. Not really a good idea because the water is kind of dirty. Not as bad as a certain canal into which we used to jump from raised locks, but still. The trees here were badly damaged in what was dubbed the October Storm a few years ago. In October there are plenty of strong leaves on the trees and that year ice collected on them and tore down branches and whole trees, also causing the surrounding towns to finish off many, many more for weeks after. Pretty terrible. I lost power for seven days. This tree turned kind of ugly as pleasing tree shapes are concerned.
This was done a few sketches later getting progressively more stylized. Note the bark is still contained in its shape.
This was a few later and where it ended up. At that point I wasn't looking at any real trees but looked back on the previous sketches. One thing to point out is that if I brought the brush and watercolor, I wouldn't have done these. Instead, I brought a pen and glad I did.
This approach will make its way into the thesis. Its a three part er (so far) and this stylization will fit in nicely.
Thanksgiving was good. Ever hear of a "food baby"?