[02] Today’s prompt is Go Monochrome
Sketch a tree using values of only one color, or play with using a non-local color.

Meet the Oak who lives at the Terminus. This Coast Live Oak is so amazing…the acorns, the branching. A survivor who has been pruned totally flat on one side to accommodate a commercial driveway. And yet, the lyric lines reveal themselves even when rendered in only one color.

This was a challenge as a value study…not a lot of variation of form in such a flat tree, the late afternoon backlighting, my very limited practice with direct watercolor (I’m usually a line-and-wash journaler.) But the real joy of the experience was being with this tree, listening to the swisherling and susurrus of the leaves, seeing the new growth like jewelry along the sturdy trunk. Really a fabulous tree.

Tutorial: John Muir Laws has a wonderful video on drawing trees with Pen & Ink.

---

About the challenge

Join the month of drawing and journaling trees!

#ArborApril 2025 is a combo challenge with #NatureJournalingApril, a month-long sketching & journaling challenge hosted by Cathy Raingarden, Kate Rutter, and the Wild Wonder Foundation. Each day in April, create a page in your sketchbook or nature journal based on the daily prompt from the prompt list. If you post on social media, use hashtags #ArborApril2025 and #NatureJournalingApril.

Check out the link in bio for all the details.

Posts & prompts will be on online at Instagram, Wonderland, Substack & Bluesky.