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Horse Chestnut Twig

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Saturday, 1 March 2014

Horse Chestnut Twig

A few more sketches for the Horse Chestnut Tree Following project. . I realised yesterday that I would have to get a move on to record its development. I had picked 3 small pieces from one of the big Church Field trees last weekend and already one has, exuberantly, burst into leaf. I kept a couple cool and dark and today made some sketches of them in their (almost) dormant state.

These lumpy twigs are fascinating and complex to draw.There are the clear sections to the stem separated by heavily ribbed sections and, in this twig, the very top section is slightly thicker than the one below. The characteristic horseshoe leaf scars under the buds have different numbers of “nails”.

The second twig had a large bud at the top which is just beginning to burst; the dark sticky coating shrinking as the russet scales stretch and split, revealing the palest, prettiest, spring green of the tightly folded leaves inside.

Watercolour sketch.

It’s a beautiful thing and warrants a larger more detailed painting… so much to do so little time!

Labels: Horse Chestnut, sketchbook, watercolour

1 Comments:

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...: I doubt many people go close enough to a twig, or linger long enough by a leaf bud, to appreciate how complex they are.

There will be a link box for Tree Following posts on Loose and Leafy tomorrow (March 7th). It'll stay open for seven days.
http://looseandleafy.blogspot.co.uk/
Lucy; 6 March 2014 at 16:37

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