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The personality of trees

I've always thought that trees have personalities, and attitudes, just as people do. To me

The Road Out pen and wash  click image to enlarge

, some trees are friendly and wise looking, others wispy and unsure of themselves. While others are tall, stern and disapproving, others look dependable and strong. They all seem to possess characters, and their attributes make them one of my favorite subjects to sketch or paint. By capturing their emotions, you can create magnificent works of art.

Value in naming objects

Another powerful tool for entering more deeply into a subject like trees or landscape

Cows Acrylic on canvas  click image to enlarge

is naming. To know that a tree is a sycamore or a cypress gives it an identity, and to understand where it falls in the pantheon of trees might be helpful. To know that a watery meadow by the Thames is called a Meade makes it more interesting than just a swamp. To know that the Magna Carta was presented to King John at just such a meadow gives it historic significance and depth. I once spent two months wandering in Europe, open to experience and sketching, but missing much because I didn't know the significance - the names, the history - of what I was seeing. There is no substitute for knowledge.

(RG note) Thanks Mike. A valuable site where you can click on the name of a tree and it will take you to illustrations, descriptions and the places in North America where the tree can be found is here.

Just experience trees

Perhaps I could go into much psychological self-examination and ponder the inner

Bridge fantasies watercolour  click image to enlarge

workings of my reaction to trees. Though, I would rather to simply experience the trees as I paint them. Sometimes too much introspection takes away the simplistic and grand beauty of a tree. As with anything, just paint it and enjoy painting it. Or if writing, just let the words flow from out of your heart.

Mystic properties of trees

Trees of all kinds have a variety of associated mythic properties in cultures around the globe, which illustrates how much human beings are shaped by their perception of the nature. That they have long evoked a wide range of responses: from embodiments of spirits or ethereal forces, to the extremely important roles played in ecological balance, and as a source of medicines. Artists have also depicted elements of the landscape in innumerable ways, endowing their work with personified interpretations of natural terrain.

(RG note) Thanks Kevan. For those who might be interested, Kevan Nitzberg has written an article on trees.

Spiritual trees

I am a Zen priest and I love your views on nature, trees and the woods that make up this planet. The following poem I read in a Zen Garden:

You see the woods at one tree
You feel the ocean in a handful of white sand
Feel the art of Nature

Power in drawing trees

I'm a watercolorist, not a poet, but I really got "feeling the trees better" by drawing

Catching a breeze watercolour  click image to enlarge

them. Aspens are my personal favorite; like flighty, spindly dancers. Even though I mostly concentrate on horses, a certain grove of trees, or an incredible face can also capture my imagination which makes me want to draw and paint them. When I witness sheer beauty, power, ruggedness, grace; I realize that those traits I desire for myself and I can somehow obtain it by painting the subject. It feels like worship, and definitely love, but I guess what that really answers is our desire to be "whole". When my soul recognizes that power, or poignancy in something, it wants to incorporate it into my being.

Yearning for relationship

As a new artist just learning about the world of art, everything seems fresh and new as I learn to look at the world in a new way. My lesson in class this week was about trees. Looking at these creations in a different light makes me appreciate the complexity of nature. Nooks, crannies and wrinkled texture of these magnificent growths planted on our earth to sustain our lives and the lives of the world's inhabitants. Birds build their nest, while we destroy to build our lives. Kid swings, pretend forts, castles enter their world of imagination. Trees of all size, width and some that reach the sky that seem to never end. After my lesson, I will always look at them in a totally different way and as I turn my blank page, I yearn to develop my relationship with those mighty trees.

Trees as friends

As a botanist, your tree essay was particularly relevant and beautifully done. I wonder,

Comet Giclee print

though, if Charlotte will ever be able to pick up the tree vibes if they haven't entered her soul already. I grow orchids and play Mozart for them. I often take their leaves in my hands and stroke them. Soon, they respond with a glorious display of blossoms so beautiful I am awed and humbled. But you see, I've picked up their vibes and they are responding. Charlotte needs to look on her trees as friends, as companions, as life forces, as part of herself in the vast palette of nature. The poetry will only come then.

(RG note) Thanks Pam. Pam offers a free ebook online that aids in graphic design.

Use of less dominant hand

Shake things up. Get your art started in a new, fresh way by making slight differences

Radiant mother oil  click image to enlarge

to your process. For example, try using your non-dominant hand to map things out in the initial stages of creating your masterpiece. Even those with fine drawing abilities who might tend to get into the habit of 'reporting the facts' in their paintings soon can realize that by simply switching hands, you open a door to the wonders of your right brain, the non-judgmental, listening, loving child inside of yourself. You will get into the now and kick-start your experiences. I have broken through every barrier of negativity this way. Everyone who has tried this technique of writing and drawing with the 'other' hand has seen you can get into the flow of creativity to get all the answers you need. Many great artists said they wished to see or paint like a child, and this is a sure way to do it, to ultimately incorporate both hemispheres of the brain.

You might only need to begin for 5 minutes, till you feel the shift, which scientists have found lasts about 90 minutes. Even breathing out of the left nostril for 2-3 minutes accomplishes the similar awareness, calmness, and relaxation of the heart. When you're safely ensconced in the 'happy place', return your brush or pencil to the other 'other' hand!

Thanks to authors Dr. Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and the book The Power of your other Hand by Lucia Capacchione, for their vital contributions to my sanity over the last twenty years. The late Helen Van Wyk once said, "I switched to painting with my left hand to be in better company."

Personality in seaside stones

Your words on painting trees echo the sentiments I'm experiencing with a new body of

Reception pastel

work on stones I have found by the seashore. The color, the shape, and the personality of each differ immensely and the still life paintings I am creating have a story of their own to share.

Burnt into her soul

I live in beautiful Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I don't often paint from memory. This

Valley Aglow on Thanksgiving Day oil on canvas  click image to enlarge

time, however, an after-image was "burnt" well into my soul by the pure delight of such color and grace. We witness trees in all their glory from infancy on and know them so well. Much like the human form, if you study a few trees very well it becomes easier to grow one in your mind. Enjoy the thrill of building its personality, bathing it in light, shadow, or peeking it through a fog. That's creative license at an all-time high!

Dialogue with the natural world

I never tire of painting them and have hugged a few trees in my lifetime. Currently, I am reading a book that I thought fits into this topic and may be of interest to other landscape painters or nature lovers. Drawing Closer to Nature, Making Art in Dialogue with the Natural World by Peter London is just terrific. If you would like to range into the mystical field, you might try: The White Goddess by Robert Graves - he decoded a tree alphabet. Also The Real World of Fairies by Dora Van Gelder - she believes trees, as other sentient beings, have elementals that help them grow and be as they are.

Be a tree

When I tried to help my children draw trees, I would constantly say, "Be a tree". I

The Sunworshipper

would make them try and feel the roots out to the drip line, and the limbs reaching up. I don't really think of this as anthropomorphism (an interpretation of what is not human or personal in terms of human or personal characteristics), but just one way artists and others can understand things around themselves. We have to get inside the thing, pay attention to its shape, its edges, its effect on the surrounding shapes. By becoming our subjects we gain a better understanding, and the ability to create better art.

Natural solutions in trees

In the 1930s, Dr. Edwin Bach was the first to take the energy of flowers and trees and distill them into healing remedies. For example, the Pine remedy can, among other things, be used to help you feel that you are enough and to let go of being hard on yourself. According to my favorite source, The Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz, the crab apple helps with self criticism and to clear energy from the body, and the elm creates the confidence and faith to complete one's given task.

I recall completing teaching a workshop several years ago and feeling really depleted. Across the street was a cemetery filled with blooming crab apple trees. My co-teacher and I stood in the center of those trees and felt completely renewed and cleansed. We stood there and laughed at how wonderful it felt. Bless the trees and wild renewing places!

Searching for answers

Your letter this morning brought me to tears. I feel very connected to trees and nature

Young life oil on canvas  click image to enlarge

in general since I started painting just a few years ago. My background is in finance but I "retired" when my 12-year-old son Danny was diagnosed with cancer. While caring for him I took a painting class—something I had always wanted to do. At first, I wasn't sure about my subject matter and often copied "pretty pictures" from magazines.

After my son died, I became very introspective and contemplative. I spent a lot of time observing details in nature and finding comfort there. I studied, drew and photographed dragonflies, butterflies, birds and trees. I have trees that represent me or guide in my life; I find faces; they speak to me. I have several on the drawing board now.

My art is inextricably linked to my son and my search for what is real in the world. I write poetry, too, and would like to find a way to incorporate words into my art.