Sketch of the Week: Tree Skeleton

Dead trees, or even dormant deciduous ones for that matter, are fascinating to draw. Stripped of their lush but concealing foliage, it's easier to appreciate their structural forms. Such was the case with this tree I drew the other day at Bitter Lake:

I've been taking note of this tree for a while, but I finally got around to drawing it. Those gray areas in the background aren't clouds, but areas of marshy field. I've been thinking about doing a larger drawing of this, one that would incorporate different media and tools to really bring out the textures of the bark and grass, maybe charcoal with bamboo pen and micron pen. We'll see.