My Sketchy Tree series has it’s roots (pun intended) in my 50 New York Waterfalls Project where I hiked to, photographed, and then painted 50 different waterfalls throughout the Finger Lake area. During the project I took hundreds of reference photos of anything that caught my eye along the trails. These photos became the inspiration for my Sketchy Tree series.
One of my favorite drawings from this series is “Roots Run Deep.” It has so many different textures and shapes through it. I had a lot of fun creating this one and I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that others enjoy this one also. I really like that you can see the base of Bucktail Falls in the background.
“Roots Run Deep” was created with ink pens. I started with basic outlines and slowly added multiple layers of shading and texture in a loose intuitive way. At the end I added highlights of white and silver to make certain features pop.
Bucktail Falls in Spafford, NY, which is towards the Cortland/Syracuse area. If you do decide to visit, please be mindful that it is on private property.