I was pinning images to my Pinterest Boards earlier, focusing on the 'Inspiration' board.  I am still deciding how I will use this tool in my work, for now it seems to be a good way to gather images together in one place, to save physical space and also paper.  The images I pinned today were mostly artists who I think are awesome, mostly mixed media artists since that is my focus for this month. This is a whole different world for me, so these visuals really help to give me ideas. 

And of course I had to pin some of my influences from art history, such as Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha.  I found this AMAZING close-up of Klimt's piece entitled, Water Serpents (1904-1907) and fell in love with the gold line work...and the fact that it is actually slightly raised from the surface.  Hmmmmmm.... that could be an idea for my large painting I am working on...

About fifteen minutes ago I put my pen down.  Tree twenty-five, done.  I feel like this one went a little faster, I started it around noon, worked for about twenty minutes before going to lunch and such.  I guess I ended up putting almost an additional two hours into the drawing.  It is not that I am keeping time, just making the observation to myself that since I hit drawing twenty the work is taking a little longer, getting more involved.  I referenced tree six for this drawing, sticking basically to the exterior shape of the earlier tree and the horizontal line work in the background.  For the most part I kept the same patterns and the same pattern placement, again trying to ‘marry’ the pattern and figurative elements.  Another change for this drawing, instead of looking at my magazine ‘picture file’ I actually used some pictures I had taken of my own face a while back from a variety of angles.  So if the gal looks familiar (and hopefully she does at least a little) then that means I did okay rendering my own face. Side note, I do like the sharp black edges from the pen work, but I am itching to do some ‘detail drawing’, really explore value and realism…another direction for me to explore.

Now I have five more drawings to go if I stick to the ‘new’ goal of thirty.  However, I feel like I am just getting warmed up –just a little closer to resolving the drawings now that I am twenty drawings into it.  Also, thirty was really an arbitrary number, I chose thirty because there are thirty pages in my 18x24 pad of paper, not because thirty is a special number to me, or because it represents the number that will yield to some greater understanding…that’s just how much paper I had.  With this in mind, per the title of this blog, ‘Tree Twenty-five...the end (and beginning) are in sight...’ To me this means that, yes, I could be almost to my goal, but it also means that after getting this close to that goal I think I have more questions than answers, each drawing has spawned other ideas, and I really do think that after I complete that ‘last’ drawing it will be just the beginning.  I did go and buy some canvases, so I will be taking a little break from the drawing table in favor of standing at the easel and painting.  And I do have intentions of bringing my embellished fiber collage technique to this body of work, so all of these things will really be a continuation of what I started out with; just a gal in awe of Klimt and Mucha trying to push past creating just piece of work as a ‘solution’.

...one change I forgot to make note of…I am still using the Faber Castell pen.  The first seventeen drawings were Sharpie fine point, and I guess I switched to the new pen without even thinking about it.  (compare one of the first drawings to the last one, on the right)  Looking back through the other drawings, I do like the thick Sharpie line; there is something very strong about those heavy black lines, like they don’t mess around.  Those lines mean business.  The new pen…the line has more feeling, more intuition. This line might cry if you yelled at it.   When I look at those lines I can see little wobbles, where I was deciding which way to go, took a breath, little pauses.

Another change in the last few drawings…I have started doing some light sketching with pencil before jumping in with the pen.  Mostly on the figurative parts, but the last drawing I also gave myself some pre-drawing for the tree.  It seems like in the first drawings I was really exploring pattern and motif I love in Klimt’s work, and gradually worked towards adding figurative elements; exploring ‘Le Style Mucha’… his ‘macaroni’ hair and use of the female form .  I know that part of this is because I have been drawing so many of these trees, but also probably because I have created them on different days, with different influences inspiring me on any given day.

So, back to drawing utensils…   I like both, but I think that there might be too big of a difference, so I may consider using both pens.  My worry is that the ink won’t match…guess I will just see what happens.  Oh, by the way- tree number nineteen is complete (below).  Now on to tree twenty!

…and it is South Florida, so am I surprised that it is raining?  No.  Summer is just getting in full swing, I know about the 4:00 rain showers…but this is different.  Big ol’ rainstorm, complete with lightening and such.  Looks like it is parked right over us…perfect time to...you guessed it- draw.  When I look at tree number sixteen I can see the connections to my reading material yesterday…trying to emulate Mucha’s ‘macaroni hair’.  This is the first of the series where I deviated from the format; I actually did some drawing in pencil, and then went on top of it with the Sharpie.  I think that the face in this drawing works a little better; it is more a part of the tree and the background than the faces that show up in the previous drawings, so I feel like I am on to something there.  Still working on that stylized hair, Mr. Mucha is a hard act to follow indeed.  I would like to try and move the face away from the center…what if it was actually in the background?  What if there was more than one…what if….

So that is the tree for today.  Number sixteen.  Guess I might need to spend the rest of the night doing more mundane things, like laundry and such.  Tomorrow and the rest of the week…more trees…hidden faces…intertwined sinuous lines….

...Fifteen trees.  I surpassed my original goal of ten and now I am half way to my new goal of fifteen.  (see slideshow, above) I photographed what I have so far, I can see where some days I focused my attention on the tree, sometimes on the background…just depending on my mood and perhaps what I was listening to on my IPod.  This is just preliminary drawing on all of these; I will go back into each one later and add more details, color, etc.  For now, just enjoying making black marks on a brand new piece of paper.  It is daunting (and exciting) to see that expanse of white and make that first mark. 

Besides completing the fifteenth tree today, I also took some time to open a book on Mucha and just sit and read.  To pour over the pictures, to try and expand my knowledge base.  Klimt and Mucha are two artists that I admire, but how much do I really know about them?  I know a little, I need to know more.  So…I just sat and read, looked.  I have all of these art books, I get so excited and I buy them.  Sometimes I look at them all the way; sometimes I just shelve them, like some treasure waiting for a time to be explored.  And I don’t always take the time to do just that.  So this summer, this fabulous summer, I am going to read every book that I own related to Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha.  When I am done reading them I am going to go through them again and sketch and make notes.  I am going to increase my vocabulary and knowledge of these artists and their work, and figure out the connections to my own art.  

Tomorrow, tree number sixteen awaits.  Tree number sixteen, now just a thought, to be put on paper tomorrow, marks to be made.

Special thanks to my husband for picking the music for the in-progress slideshow. (Cat Stevens, The Wind)