Acrylic painting and charcoal: Forest and depth

After my charcoal robin sketch I wanted to have one more go at using this medium. I wanted to explore depth a bit more and I was quite interested in how forests looked during the night and how the perspective and sense of depth is different from during the day, I used my darkest shade of brown charcoal to do this as I didn't have any black at the time and decided on sketching birch trees as I find them the easiest for me to draw and they also have a natural contrast to them with white and dark tones within the bark. I sketched two larger trees in the foreground and then four thinner and smaller trees in the background. As this was just a rough sketch I do think that the final outcome seems messier than my other charcoal piece and the lines, although smooth in some areas are are more jerky and uneven. Which I think creates this feeling of imperfection and hurriedness within the image. I also think that the jerky motions of the charcoal help to invoke a subtle sense of unease within the image, forests at night are always a little bit creepy and having odd angles and lines helps to emphasise this feeling. This sketch was done inside my A4 sketch book but despite this I believe that by having these two up close drawings in the foreground really enhances the sense of scale within the work. It gives the illusion that these are up close shots of large trees, another thing that I think has helped this technique is filling in the empty space with with dark brown tones. Not only does this give off the impression that it is night time within this work but I think that it allows the work to have a natural depth to it while providing a contrast to the white colours of the trees and allowing them to stand out. When it comes to composition and valance within the image I think that I have done a decent job of this, the two trees in the front take up most of the space and attention but the quite equally spaced, I do think that I could have better placed the trees in the back as some of them seem out of place. 

I Think that this has been successful in terms of a very quick charcoal study into depth but it does unfortunately look quite messy and rough. But because of this I wanted to try and better recreate a dark forest using acrylic paint. 

To do this I painted a section of my sketch book with a pains grey, and then worked slowly to layer thicker and thinner sections on top of this in progressively lighter colours. With pale white birch trees being on the very top. I find acrylic paint to be quite enjoyable to work with as the colours are easy to mix and easy to apply. 

I really love the outcome of this painting, and I think that I have made real progress on better understanding how to convey depth within a piece. It is clear which elements are supposed to be closest to the viewer and I think that the grey tones that I have used are effective in making it seem as if the trees behind are covered in darkness and fading into the night. The lines are much smoother than my charcoal study and I think that this id due to the fact that I have a little bit more control over the pain and I'm able to easily paint over things that I don't like, and even though the physical painting is on a smaller scale I believe that scene I have depicted seems bustling with trees and subjects. The acrylic paint has allowed me to add a bit more texture into the work to create more physical looking bark and the white is solid and contrasting colour when compared to the drakes surroundings. I would say that the lines and forms within this image seem to be reasonably smooth and flowing, they're strong and present and I think that allows the work to have an inviting and enticing aspect to it even though the darker colours create a slightly scarier atmosphere. It's like something is trying lure you in and you want to tough and feel the trees even though you know you shouldn't. 

When it comes to the strengths of this work I think that it has been a very successful development into my ability to communicate and express depth and differentiate between the foreground and background of an image. I love the colours that I have used and I believe that I have been successful in using different shades to subtly convey a message rather than a multitude of colours. I also like that this painting has a story book quality to it, it's not ultra realistic and they're is something cartoonish about it. I think that this is because of the minimalistic colours and detail that have been used. I have given the impression of something without forcing it. 

I think that moving forward, I would like to try out something a bit more 3D and physical. After noticing the cartoonish elements of this piece I think that I would like to lean into that more. I might look at books like 'The Gruffly for research' as they have a unique and distinct style.