The walk Jane and I took yesterday was to Shotover Country Park on the east side of the Oxford ring road. Rather than taking my camera, I just carried my sketch book and I managed a couple of quick drawings, including this one of a tree:

I’m quite pleased with this so will count it towards my 52photos project. It has a certain energy and reminds me  I didn’t add the colour until yesterday evening – in fact, after I had started work on a small watercolour using the drawing. The sketchbook I used has thin paper but I wasn’t entirely content with how the watercolour was turning out and wanted to try some ideas. Here is the watercolour I was working on, with a bit more added after I’d worked on the sketch:

I’m happier with it than I had been but I think it needs a bit more. Looking back at the sketch, probably a bit more colour spraying out towards the right and then a darker tone over on the left. I might try again on proper watercolour paper too (this is the back of an old postcard) and I’ll also try leaving more space to the right, which is part of where the sketch gets its energy from. I think both are fairly easy to read as part of a tree but filling in less seems (for this style) to make the result more engaging.