"I DON'T know how it is, but I can't do trees" is a remark an artist

frequently hears; and it is too often justified by the poor and crude

attempts at tree painting that accompany it.

 

And to the regretful exclamation perhaps something is added about

"want of knack" the "right sort of touch" as though, in order to

successfully draw or paint a tree (as distinct from the painting of any

other object) some extraordinary gift or sleight of hand were

necessary, some special cleverness of manipulation that should enable

its possessor to accomplish "tree-work" perhaps without effort, and

certainly without very much study.

 

"I'm very fond of out-door sketching, nothing is so nice; and although I

love trees, and have tried to paint them many times, somehow or other

I can't manage it," continues the disconsolate artist. This idea of

natural inability in regard to tree-painting perhaps becomes in him a

settled conviction and he goes floundering on for of course he cannot

give up his sketching, blotting in his trees with meaningless and

inartistic dabs (which by-and-by become his recipe) and from this very

hopelessness, making little or no attempt at reproducing the forms,

which, as a matter of fact, he sees quite plainly, and is perfectly

conscious of.

 

Now, this theory of spontaneous foliage-cleverness we entirely disagree

with. Of course a natural love of art is quite essential to success in

any kind of painting, but we hold that, given the artistic ability, it is

just as capable of being turned in the direction of tree-painting as in

any other; and with success, if only the study of tree form be set about

in a right manner and with conviction.

 

"Freedom of handling" we are told, and "lightness of touch" are

necessary to tree-painting. This is undoubtedly true, for a tree is an

object that is continually on the move, swayed by the wind first one

way and then the other and through which a bird can fly. It is only

with certain dexterity that this appearance of life and motion can be

given.

 

But "freedom of handling" is only another name for that sureness of

brush which results from practice, and from the knowledge obtained

by the mastery of the subject from its elemental stages upwards.

When painting a tree it should always be kept in mind and never

forgotten, that it is a tree, composed of delicate, feathery leaves, and

not a solid, immovable substance like brick or stone. It ought to be the

painter's aim to portray the quality and material of the tree as well as

its form and colour.