- Hi and welcome to Pocket Sketching.

What are we gonna do today?

We're gonna be looking at trees.

It's one of the things people ask me about, and they have a terrible time with them because they've got tapes from when they were children in school, and so they don't look, they don't see what they're looking at.

So this is gonna be sort of how to look at a tree and how to get it down on paper, and things that are really there so that you begin to see what's there.

We're gonna have fun.

Come join us.

(cheerful music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided by Sedona Hypnosis LLC, "Healing your past, "creating your future," Muriel Walsh Estate Sales, "Representing people is our business," and by viewers like you.

- We're working on trees and shrubs, and I like a little tiny bit of a space where I think about getting into it, which is what I'm doing when I open my paints and put 'em out, and it's just kind of a break from the rest of the day to think a little bit differently before doing something.

When you're looking at trees and shrubs, you've been set up probably in grade school.

You were taught to do a lollipop tree, and the lollipop tree went like this.

There's the top, mm, sort of like that, and it comes in like this, and it has a stem, like a lollipop.

But that's not really the way trees work.

If you can see this foliage, oh, and the, it went up like this.

I forgot, a little bit more here.

It did this, there you go.

Now, if you've got this much foliage behind those branches, you've gotta have foliage in front of the branches.

I mean, just look at it a little logically if that wasn't what you were taught as a kid.

The foliage comes across part of the trunk.

If it's behind there, it's in front.

This is a big difference from how you were taught.

So let's take a look a little bit at trees.

I'm gonna show you one first, just a sketch, trees in the distance, in the distance.

They turn, if it's distant, they turn lighter and bluer, like everything else in the distance.

As they come closer, they have edges, they get darker, there is contrast.

And often you can see the difference in shapes.

If you're looking, this is a tough one, let's say you're looking outside at a bunch of trees.

How do you know one from another?

'Cause you do.

But when you put it on paper, you tend to put it all the same color, the same everything.

The next time you're outside, take a look, and look at why you can see it, why?

Not what is it, but why can I see it?

Is it lighter?

Is it darker?

Is the foliage clumped differently?

Are there edges I can see?

if it's in anywhere in the distance, you can't see leaves, and yet people tend to put the leaves on the tree.

I mean, you've got a tree this far away and you've got, you're building it with leaves?

That takes time, by the way, to build the whole thing with leaves.

That takes a ton of time.

On top of that, there's so much ink here that it'd be very difficult to work with.

But this is common, this is way common.

You see, it's all gonna run together.

And if you're looking in the distance, you won't see those leaves individually.

If you can see a batch of leaves, then you can't see what's next to it.

You might go back to my focal point exercise, 'cause it's really important and it'll help you a lot.

My focal point exercise, hold your thumb out at full length, focus on it, keep your focus there.

How well can you see what's behind it?

Now that's big right there.

How well can you see what's behind it if you're looking back there and not looking at your thumb, how well do you see the thumb?

You can't do both.

When you pick a focal point, that's what's in focus.

Your eyes go in and out and in and out constantly.

A camera is at one point and has infinity, both sides, but you go to one point and then another point and then another point and then another point.

Each one is a different focal point.

Keep that in mind when you're looking at trees.

Squint if necessary.

If you squint, you're gonna see light and dark.

That's gonna help.

How light is it?

How dark is it?

If the trees are below you or low, they're gonna be light across the top and dark below.

If you're looking into the tree and it's close to you, don't try to put the whole tree on your piece of paper.

I love this one.

You're looking into a tree, and the entire tree, whoops, the entire tree is on the piece of paper.

You gotta be a long ways away to do that.

If you're close, really close, then your visual point where you're going to have a focal point might be there and the tree may go clean off the paper.

It's a little bit different.

So let's look at a typical tree, and I want you to see something that's really, really important about it.

This is a cottonwood that I have sketched over and over and over in Tucson.

Oh incidentally, this is in the fall.

I took my paint set to the tree and absolutely matched on my paper the color of leaves with the paint set, then put those colors on the pad of paper, and it didn't work.

And it didn't work and it didn't work.

This is going over five days, going a part of every day, like a half day.

That's about my tolerance.

It didn't work.

And then I finally got smart and said, what's in the shadows?

What are the colors behind?

What are the colors in the sky?

And when I finally got it, it wasn't the color of the tree.

Oh no, it was the color of the shadows, the color of the sky.

Just a real brief little thing on that.

I mean that was a surprise.

By the way, what's this?

It's damp here.

This is a blotter.

When you're in a real damp environment, like I taught a workshop in Mendocino, California.

It was drizzly or raining every day.

By the way, I'm gonna try to make this color of these leaves.

That's part of it.

But some of the, some red was in there.

There you go.

Now, what made this show up?

'Cause I was hoping to get this beautiful, that tree, what made it show up was not this, though that's a neat color.

What made it show up was the opposite color near it.

When that came in and came into the shadows, then the tree showed up.

So it's not just what you're looking at, it's heavily influenced by what's next to it, whether you're gonna get it or not.

If this is behind it, this is a blue.

If that's behind it, now the tree has a chance of showing up.

But it's not gonna show up against a super light sky.

Notice how dark that sky is?

Notice how that shows up on this side where it's light?

Well, right down here, that doesn't show up.

They're almost the same value.

Value is your light and dark scale.

It's your gray scale.

Almost the same value.

That doesn't show up, that shows up.

It's what's behind it that makes it really, really, really show up.

It's what those darks are.

What are the darks that are inside?

How do you get those?

Are they another color from what you think they are?

I'm gonna pick up a bit of, this is a purple in the lid, and this is a green in the lid.

Pick those up.

Put them in as darks.

Now, does the foliage begin to show up?

Learn how much to put in to make the highlight show.

The whole tree is not that color.

There are severe darks in here.

We'll get to the trunk later, but the tree shows up against the darks.

It shows up because of the background.

After doing this for most of a week and really flubbing it up, there's a good one.

That one, by the way, highlights happen to be wax, and I may get to that and use it in a minute.

But this one has the darks in it, has the darks around it.

Where it's light against light, it doesn't show.

Where there are darks, it shows.

So look, you have to really look, you have to see it.

John F. Carlson, who probably wrote the best book ever on painting outside, probably the best book, said to go study trees in the winter when they don't have leaves and sketch 'em then.

I tried that.

That is so boring.

I'm not really into discipline at all.

That was tough.

So instead, do it with the foliage on, really.

I just found it was just too boring.

I couldn't handle it.

Do the tree trunks and the branches.

When they have foliage, it's more fun.

But if winter's coming, practice.

I mean, if you're into discipline, give it all you got.

I find that very hard to do.

Really hard to do.

I'm gonna take this photo, which is from Sedona, and see the tree, let me show you how I see people try to do this tree over and over and over, and then show you how.

I mean it's, you can see it in the photo.

But I see 'em do this.

They might add a trunk up there.

They, I mean, they get it dark, really dark, really all the same.

This goes back to that lollipop tree.

It goes back to the lollipop, and there's the tree, and then the ground is light, okay?

Now when you add water to this, you got a lot of lines.

You add water to this and you're, it's gonna be a tad blobby.

Instead, take the time to look at the tree.

Take the time.

A tree is a wonderful thing.

Trees are fabulous.

Take the time to look at it.

First place, it has scattered foliage.

It has darks.

Now I'm looking at the photo.

It has darks.

How dark, how much?

Where's the trunk?

That's too fat, that's okay, won't matter 'cause I'll take care of it in a minute.

A few branches.

You want a thin line with this pen, tip it and learn to touch it lightly.

This is a light area, not so much ink.

Here comes a dark area.

Guess what?

It crosses the trunk.

How dark?

Need it really dark?

Cross hatch a tad, it'll go faster.

This tree happens to have a trunk that came up and went sideways.

Here's more of it over here, oops.

But if I want that light, what do I do?

I just made it dark.

Move it over.

This becomes foliage.

You make mistakes, you hide 'em.

People tell you that in watercolor, you can't make mistakes, you need to throw it out and start over.

They've never found out the versatility.

No, you don't throw it out.

You hide the mistakes or distract from them.

It doesn't matter.

Distraction works beautifully.

I love the watercolors of John Singer Sargent, because he makes so many mistakes and didn't hide 'em.

And you can see those.

Oops, there's a branch.

See, that happened a little bit late.

That's good enough.

Light foliage, light foliage.

And what about the ground?

There's shadows on the ground.

That's part of the whole deal.

That's nicely shadowed.

That's gonna help offset it a tad.

What about where it meets the ground?

Does it matter?

Then each time you do it, you're gonna do it differently.

Some days you'll go out and you'll be golden, wonderful things happen.

Other days you'll go out, not so good, bad things happen.

Sketch that day anyway, because you'll be learning something as you do it.

This is a clumsy trunk, clumsy.

Wait'll I add water, just wait, just wait.

You want a few interesting branches?

Go back on this pen and you'll get an interesting branch.

You'll get a wiggly branch.

Just a wiggly branch.

Want one?

Go get it.

That came up.

Where is this, is there any more dark in here, right there?

Kind of like that.

This does not look like a tree, does it?

Not at this point.

Not until you add water.

I usually shove it together this way.

So now I'm going to go to the paint set and I have to put this so you can still see it, but when I add water, magic occurs.

This is fairly dark.

To get that kind of color, go first to a green and then pick up a red.

It Should be a nice greenish red.

And it's gonna be a little darker because there's ink involved.

Yeah, that's dark.

Okay, so you got a dark color.

Where are your greatest darks?

Go find them.

Is that red enough?

Not really.

Do you wanna change it?

Add a bit of water, it's gonna be changed.

Too much maybe?

It doesn't matter.

Okay, cuts across the trunk.

Cuts across, breaks the trunk.

Good part of the trunk you want exposed, bad part you wanna cover up.

It's fun.

Slightly more green, too green for a pine tree.

This, by the way, is a pinon, grows in Santa Fe, Sedona, Utah, where you have high, dry climates.

Very, it's a tree that can get to very old ages.

What you happens if you add a little bit of yellow in here, what happens?

Don't be afraid to do what you think of when what happens.

I had a teacher in one class who specialized in eight, nine and 10-year-old boys, and she said the eight-year-olds are not socialized, so if something good happens, "Of course I'm meant to do that."

If something bad happens, "He made me do it."

No responsibility at all.

They're kind of cool.

I love that.

"He made me do it.

"I didn't do it.

He made me do it.

"Hey, somebody else."

Look at this foliage happen.

Now, you can use bigger brush strokes too, and you get, when you, if you stay too long on something, you wind up getting tight brush strokes.

Does that come across the trunk?

Does it matter?

Not too much there.

That's kind of clumsy.

Cut in on it.

What about up here?

Had a little practice.

Tickle it, feel it.

Try to get it like it is.

I particularly wanted to show you this tree in a photo because I see it done so badly so often, and yet it's a gorgeous tree, it really is.

Eh, little bit of branch up there, some branches in here.

Mm, maybe a little bit more yellow because it's up high.

Ooh, that came out nicely.

Then what about that trunk?

What about that trunk?

I'm looking at the top of my box, I got a gorgeous red brown in the box.

Is it this dark?

Probably not.

How about a little few branches there, there, there, here, there, influence.

Now cut across it.

Not quite done with this.

That was still darker.

This tree is far more interesting.

Few branches here and there.

Oh, it left a little branch there not colored.

Any of them really.

Oh, that was just sort of, oh, what fun.

Nothing wrong with that.

Go darker down here because it's shadows, and on top of that, it's not only shadows, it's cast on red dirt.

So I just added a bit.

Now that tree has interest.

What about the branches?

What about the color of a trunk?

Just a bit.

Just a bit.

It had branches.

Now when you see a tree trunk, does that matter?

No, you can leave it.

You can also get rid of that one.

There you go, and put one out there.

You can make changes.

You can make all kinds of changes.

Now, something I wanted to bring up is the trunks of trees.

People think they're black.

Not necessarily so.

They may be.

Why don't you look at 'em, see what they are.

Now, it may have lines and it may not have lines.

Let's say you've got a forest and you've got a trunk where you've put the lines down like that.

But they don't all have to be like that.

You're going to put color on this.

If you do it sort of the way you were taught in school, you're probably gonna use brown, and it's gonna come down like this, I bet it picks up some of the ink.

There you go, brown.

But as you come down, there's a variety.

Don't make it all the same, because the trunk isn't all the same.

Look at it.

You've really gotta look at it and get a feeling for it.

What if the trunk is quite a notably different color from what you expect?

I like to look at 'em and say, what is it not?

It is not red, it is not brown, it is is not yellow.

And then, and I look at my paint set, and then finally I may pick up a slightly unusual color.

Is it lavender?

Well, that still had brown in it.

Rinse that out, try again.

But they come in different colors.

Not only do they come in different colors, you're gonna see them differently.

How about that?

They can be that color.

That's a soft, that's a strong lavender.

Too strong?

Well actually, I'll demonstrate on the other one.

Squish out the water in your brush and lift, this is a lift.

Now that's lift the light sides that you're likely to see on a tree trunk, and lift it out the middle.

Do I want more color in there?

I can put more color in.

There it goes.

You can change it.

But do look at the tree, because if you don't look at it, you're not gonna see what color it is, how the foliage is clumped, when it breaks the trunk.

By the way, by all means, if you get a bad part of trunk, run foliage across it, hide it.

You don't have to be stuck with it and you don't have to start over either.

Hide it or distract from it so that I look someplace else other than at that bad part.

That's one of the most fun things in watercolor, and a lot of people don't even understand it.

This is, was, clean up.

But let's go back to this tree.

Look at how the foliage comes across, hiding parts.

Now in this case, that trunk is very dark.

It also has extreme lights around it.

In many trees, the lights and the darks are very, very, very close together.

Notice the color of these trees.

Let me get things out of the way.

This is from where we were recently staying in a cabin.

Notice the colors of the trunks.

Those are not brown.

Those are kind of brown.

They did have outlines.

There are some in the back that aren't even used.

The foliage is clumped.

You can actually see that.

You can see this is distant foliage.

It doesn't have any features, it's lighter, it's bluer, it's more neutral.

And then the bushes don't have trunks.

They're very light on top because the light is hitting them and they're below your vision, and you can see all the things going on in them.

They usually have dark bottoms that help show the bottom of a bush.

Look at what you're looking and enjoy it.

These are in the distance.

They're hardly even there.

This guy's right next to you.

You can really, really see it.

All of this is fun and all of it is movable.

You get a mistake, you hide it, you get something you like, you make sure it can be seen.

Watercolor is a movable, movable feast, and it's totally fun to work with.

So from here, we've done a couple of things that people ask me about, but they also really ask me a lot about clouds.

So what's coming up next?

The most watery of all things.

It's made for watercolor, clouds, how to build them, how to make 'em, and of course you gotta know how to look at 'em.

Not sure I have clouds in here, but, actually this is, there's a type of, part of a cloud.

In a photograph, cumulus cloud.

You would think you'd put lines in the sky to get this.

We'll try that and see what happens.

If you put lines in, you've gotta have a dark sky.

We're gonna have a lot of fun with this.

Again, you have to look.

Again, it is watercolor, it's washy, it's a lot of fun, it's loose.

Oh, and here's something very important.

Nobody knows where you were.

Nobody knows what you saw.

Nobody knows what you thought you saw.

Every one of these is terribly important.

You saw clouds that nobody else saw and they can't tell you anything else, that's one.

But two, you also put on paper what you think ought to be there.

And happy sketching.

- Want to learn more about the wonderful world of Pocket Sketching?

Then visit my website at pocketsketching.com.

We have so much there for you to explore, including free tips and training videos, the Pocket Sketching supplies, photo galleries, and how to access additional training.

All this and more is available at pocketsketching.com.

Learn enough to play for a lifetime.

- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided by Sedona Hypnosis LLC, "Healing your past, creating your future," Muriel Walsh Estate Sales, "Representing people is our business," and by viewers like you.

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