Monochrome watercolor pencil sketch of a yucca tree as seen in the Oaxaca Ethnobotanical Garden.
The *Yucca mixtecana, *named for the Mixtec people (*Ñuu Savi*, “People of the Rain”), one of the major indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and the Oaxaca region.
#watercolor #watercolour #aquarelle #trees #TreeStudies #MonochromeMarch
Monochrome watercolor pencil sketch of a Pitch Pine tree
This tree was quite a specimen, standing lone near the coast of Block Island Sound in Rhode Island.
#watercolor #watercolour #aquarelle #trees #TreeStudies #MonochromeMarch
Upgraded my watercolor rigger brush today. Now my tree branches will be better than they were before. Better... stronger... faster. The six million dollar rigger brush.
Watercolor tree study 3/6/26
My studio has been filling up these last few weeks with a number of small tree studies (about 3 x 5 in or 7.6 x 12 cm).
I keep pushing off doing a "full painting" in favor of these, and I'm quite OK with that. I'm a little more experimental and less worried about the "blank page" syndrome.
Monochrome watercolor pencil sketch of a maple tree.
There's some interesting water blend effects going on at the top that I quite like, need to practice getting those more consistently.
#watercolor #watercolour #aquarelle #trees #TreeStudies #MonochromeMarch
Monochrome watercolor pencil sketch of a crabapple tree.
Used my trusty 8B Faber-Castell graphite aquarelle for this one.
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Monochrome watercolor tree study
Focusing in on one element (trees) has allowed me to strengthen other aspects of my painting that I often forget about or neglect. Here it's the practice of lifting paint with a clean brush, a useful technique that I need to employ more.
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A video and the final result of a quick "distant tree" watercolor study.
"Wet-on-wet" process, so I had my color mixes ready and paid close attention to the dampness of the paper. I show this in the video.
1. Created a sky + ground wash, paper was damp.
2. The paint for the trees was the consistency of light cream. Getting this correct ratio is NOT always easy!
3. I created highlights by lifting out paint w/a clean brush.
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Watercolor tree studies 2/28/26
I'm trying to nail down the right mix of pigment and water to get the effect of trees in the distance. I want soft edges, but getting them consistently is tricky!
Too much water, they just turn into amorphous blobs.
Not enough water, you get hard edge trees, which can be useful, but not my goal.
There are 1 or 2 in this series that I think are OK, more practice needed.
Watercolor leafless tree study - 2/23/2026
Spring feeling a little far away today...
(6 x 6 in, 15 x 15 cm)
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Jeremy Osborn