Spring Comes to The Homestead Trail

I took the photo that this picture is based on while biking on the Homestead Trail at Prince Edward Island National Park earlier this month. It was still pretty cold, at least to my California bones, and most of the deciduous trees were without leaves. The bare trees and their shadows dominated the forest trail and it was so gorgeous that I had to stop to take pictures.

I am working this week to learn how to draw from photos and today focused on getting a relaxed flow to the sketch. In contrast to the way I worked on the last few sketches, I began today by placing just a few marks in pastel before beginning to paint. I was curious if this might make the sketch feel a little looser than my other recent sketches,  which were fully drawn in before I started painting. I don’t think it made a difference.

This is a gouache and pastel sketch on black paper.