Tuesday, December 1, 2020

The Fabled Franklinia

Franklinia alatamaha, watercolor and graphite, 13.5"h x 10.5"w

 

My painting of the fabled Ben Franklin tree (Franklinia alatamaha) is finally finished. When I started this painting based on my field sketch last summer, I had been thinking of writing a post illustrating the process of painting it step-by-step, but as often happens, I forgot to take photos and ended up with only one intermediate photo, so that was not practical.

It's taken me a while to figure out exactly how to go about finishing this piece. I started experimenting, adding a few branches in the background to give a better idea of the tree's growth pattern using graphite pencil, so as not to detract from the one lovely flowering branch in color. I think this treatment works; the graphite fills in the background with a soft, silvery look that gives a better idea of the tree's habit.

1 comment:

Herb Borkland said...

A very interesting experiment which, to my eye, works like a charm.