This is a large old oak tree I encountered in Sonoma County, California. Its short, thick, straight trunk supports very large spreading branches of enormous circumference, which are rather low. It is an unusual and beautiful tree.
Please excuse the blue tinge to the reproduction. I couldn’t find a way to remove it without altering the color of the ink. Speaking of the ink, this is sepia which is from the ink sac of the cuttlefish and has been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years. One of its most valuable properties is that it is permanent when it dries, so I can do ink washes over the lines. This is something that cannot be done with other brown inks where the original lines dissolve into the liquid.
The drawing is 6″ x 9″ on bristol. More work to be seen here!
Notes on Painting 