...but how do I capture this magical effect?

“Around The Apple Tree", May/June Blooms, Blog #2

Posted on 7/5/2020 11:23:13 PM by Susan M Story PSA-MP - Comment on this

Please read Blog #1, "Exciting News", Individual Artist Commission grant by The Arts Center Of The Capital Region, (“The Arts Center”), on behalf of the New York State Council On The Arts.

I waited patiently for the apple tree to bloom. I was using the young apple tree in my yard as a guide as to when it was time to visit my muse. All of a sudden it got warm and all the apple trees bloomed! I foolishly thought they would linger a few days. The heat remained and oops, I thought I had better get down there. Much to my surprise it is a tad warmer down the street and I missed the tree in its full glory by a day! Not that the blooms were all gone but the tree just wasn’t at its peak. I am just that much higher in elevation to have made this mistake.

I brought an assortment of materials and paper with me so I could use whatever the spirit moved me to choose. I started with a pastel sketch on rice paper focusing on a branch with a few remaining flowers. Many of the flower petals had fallen off. The burnt orange stamens and their pollen sacs had already released pollen grains that appeared to me to be dripping down. The blossoms not pollenated or mature, reveled the little green leaves that support the blossoms, sepals, filaments, stamens and pistil. So many delicate parts in the center of this beautiful flower. I was observing all three spring stages at once!

“Blossom Study”, on rice paper, 11” x 15” pastel.

The paper proved to be a challenge for any detail but I liked the effect.

Returning a couple of days later, I decided to focus on a section of the tree limbs and the trunk. I selected a paper I had never used before. It was a neutral color and was thick like a felt. Staring with a watercolor underpainting the paper bubbled up. I realized a made a bad choice and started again using watercolor paper.

“Late Spring”, on watercolor paper with pastel, 22” x 15”

After returning home, I picked up the puckered paper from my first attempt of the tree. I imagined the tree in its glory and, with the aid of a photo the tree owner had taken, began adding pastel.

“Blooming Tree, Spring Glory”, 22.5” X 15”, felted paper

I was happy with my sketches of the apple tree in spring. I captured the nuances and spirit of the season with my work and the reference photos I had taken. On to the next step….

Read about my project in the Altamont Enterprise,

https://altamontenterprise.com/06232020/artist-gets-grant-paint-near-life-size-apple-tree

Please visit my website join my newsletter, https://www.susanmstory.com

Come back soon!

Susan

Many thanks to those supporting this project and helping to build this near-to-life size apple tree!

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Stanley Maltzman PSA, HFH and Joyce Barry