Naked Beauty

There is something so very appealing to me about trees in the wintertime. Stripped of all the accouterments of color, leaf and blossom, they stand naked to the world showing an elegance of line and shape that can only be appreciated when they are bare.  It is as if they dare to exhibit their bones during this season and without any clothing as a distraction they bravely reveal their age, their shape and their past.  I never tire of studying them.

Of course there are evergreens and hardy pines.  This is the season in which they take the center stage and use the spotlight for all it is worth.  They are lovely, they receive the snow graciously and they become the darling of the Christmas card industry.  But I prefer the maples and oaks and all of those brave enough to winter over without flash or fanfare.

So a peek into my sketchbook this week shares some of the notes I made as I observed the naked beauty.

pencil notes made here reference how a cluster of trees seem to make their their lace-like branch tips into perfect shapes...

 I  played with ways of illustrating the shape and movement of the limbs, not trying to capture the realism but getting the feeling of movement they had, the ballet...

fascination by the shapes of the trees individually as well as en mass made me wonder if they sent out a memo as to the exact length to grow so that an elegant shape could be maintained without any pruning or cutting...

... finding symmetry as .....well as asymmetry within a single tree shape...

Finally, a rough attempt to lay out the gorgeous interplay of three branches outside my bedroom window.  I would wake to their dark shapes back lit by a pink rising sun...moving my head just the tiniest bit would change the entire pattern.  I made many pencil sketches of the limbs, this one is rather same ole same ole....but I am betting there will be a painting or two based on a final, more interesting layout.

Another view on winter trees is expressed by poet Jeffry McDaniel, "I realize there's something incredibly honest about trees in winter; they're experts at letting things go."

GraceFULLY yours,
Cindy