For some time now I’ve had in mind a new piece (or even, perhaps, a set of them) using the birch tree in our garden as the subject. The trouble is that I have been hesitating over what medium to use. I have been havering over this for too long, and yesterday I decided that I would try a set of trial images using different media. It is a sound idea, I’m sure, but the first two designs I have produced have been very unsatisfactory.
It is quite some time since I used watercolour, and the first attempt used that medium. The second used coloured pencils. Neither yielded a very pleasing result. I’m still reflecting on the question of whether the deficiencies of the watercolour were a consequence of my relative unfamiliarity with this medium or whether it simply is not the best solution to my problem. In some ways the coloured pencils were more successful (perhaps because they are closer to pastels, with which I am more at home) but the result of my experiment lacked some of the characteristics for which I was looking.
Another variable needs to be addressed here, and that is the way in which I set up the object to be drawn, in that I concentrated on getting the light right, but found that the background was all wrong.
I’m convinced that there is something to be made of my original idea, and I will persist, trying different approaches. At the present time, however, I have to admit to feeling a degree of frustration. It looks as if it will be Wednesday before I can get to grips with the project again, but in my spare moments tomorrow I’m sure that I wall find the time to reexamine what I have done, and consider how the project might be set up differently.