Calico Art - Carol Vaage

SWESA Tree Experiential Workshop Handout
Carol Vaage March 4, 2025
Art website: calico-art.com

Introduction to Trees:

• Background effects – My experiment: Alessandro Andreuccetti (see below) Key Idea: Trees can be exactly the same but mood changes with backgrounds
• Loose/realistic options - Realistic trees take days to paint, so because of time constraints the class trees will be in the loose style of painting.

Class Exercises:

1. Deciduous

• Full tree – with shapes of leaf bunches, bark. Leave white spaces between clusters of branches; add various greens to suggest light and shadow. Explain the Fibonacci effect of branch growth with alternating sides (e.g. left twig, right twig, repeat)
  

2. Evergreen (branches upward or downward)

• traditional colours, any color. Observe evergreens, notice space between branches, darker tones near center by branches. Brush can lightly dance to create branches for loose style
• Tamarack / Larch colours
  
• The birch trees are created by using masking tape to cover tree space and painting background first. Dab dark color along side of tree and use credit card or card stock to drag the paint into the tree. Add other marks for extra texture. Shadows at base of trees.

3. Fall

• Colour
• Bushes, dark, medium, light
• Or bare tree

4. Challenge:

• Light Source lifting from woods sketch
• Bleeding tree line
•  

The following are examples used to demonstrate how I have painted trees using a variety of techniques.

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Below you will see my watercolor experiments early in my self-studies. I used Alessandro Andreuccetti's painting as a guide and drew the same tree format as he used. You can see difference in mood and emotion created only by changing the background to the trees.