Simplified complexity of oak branches with the patterning of fractals in mind:
Pencil Drawing - Oak Branches
This is the drawing done just before the “Rosebush” drawing. I am excited by the clarity of the shapes and the movement between the shapes. I felt that I would not have been able to create this patterning without having stared and studied the oak branches through my window for so, so many hours the day before, attempting to capture the pattern of light through the trees (see previous posting).
For me, it is the unique pattern of that oak tree. It is certainly not a maple or a beech or a sycamore. That thought led me to look closer at the rosebush outside my window and to try capturing its “rosebushness” (see previous posting). What a fun path I am following these days!
LATER………
I just received my email newsletter from Eric Michaels. It is the first of a series of articles on “trees”. I felt that it was appropriate to add a link to the article on this entry of the “Oak Branches”. Here is the link. http://www.enpleinairpro.com/EnPleinZone/newsletters/July10.html
Third Time Around 
July 7, 2010 at 3:08 am
Having worked with Oak trees all my life they never fail to amaze me with their age and beauty. Not only are they the finest timber to work with but they stand proud in their natural beauty in the countryside
July 6, 2010 at 1:49 pm
wow – yeah. so many things you point out resonate.
– some times i do what i call a meditation-observation before i draw – essentially running my eye over an object following lines and color/shadow/light edges, texture patterns etc. if it’s a simple object i find that if i do that for 10 minutes it often takes me 5-6 minutes to draw the object. …of course that was a daily drawing of one object i do sometimes as an exercise. same object day after day (different positions, viewing angles, lighting etc.) for several weeks or more. still from the first day on i dont think it ever took longer to draw than the time i spent observing it (i used a timer – 10 minutes for the meditation-observation – but allowed myself to stop when i felt the drawing was done whether it was less than 10 minutes or longer. hmmm…. now i wonder… if this is the same thing or not…).
– in bonsai the branching structure is critical to the tree – and yeah, i suspect masters can clearly identify a tree by it’s branching structure – just as you say, it’s not a maple or any other tree.
– and yeah, i agree each and every tree has it’s own branching patterns even if all the trees are what we human beings are calling – oak trees – all of which i’m sure you know as a gardener. one of the things that bothered me a little in my own fence trees the other day was that i didnt go after individual trees (altho the entire work is that way so it’s all in keeping) – i used generic shapes the photo suggested. i think the work would become richer going after each tree shape.
– and then the drawing itself – yeah, your eye is terrific, proportion and relative placement to everything around each shape – beautiful.
– as well as placement within the composition.
– and as Leslie touched on – everything in our world has a relationship to everything else. your work brings that out imo.
July 6, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Rick,
Just got my email newsletter from Eric Michaels. He talks about the treeness of trees. Thought you might find it interesting. Here’s the link to the first article in his series on trees.
http://www.enpleinairpro.com/EnPleinZone/newsletters/July10.html. You’ll have to copy and paste the address. I don’t know how to make it a link in a reply to a comment.
July 8, 2010 at 1:19 pm
cool thanks Chris – yeah i found that i just have to add the url and WP will convert it to a link. so no problem – i just clicked the url you placed here.
July 6, 2010 at 12:12 pm
When I first opened this, I thought of branches. However, as I stared at it, nerve endings came to mind. I often wonder if there is more to this space we are in and connections of this nature always fascinate me.