Tree of Life Woodcarving Illusion (Pencil on Birch Panel)

Description

Someone said to me last week that the way one get’s good at something (talking about drawing and painting in particular) is to do it, then do it again and again and again. I mean sure, they’re right. Sadly I don’t … have the attention span or something.

I started out on a quest to do more intense fine art this year. To take my time and produce more intricate pieces. Realistic looking to an extent, but magical. I keep reminding myself Magical Realism is my current project and am trying not to sidle into so many other things that grab my attention…. for long, lol.

It began with planning and getting the art-ing materials together, then I tamped down my ambition to reproduce a terrarium in detail and started a bit easier (aka accomplishable) with the Frog and Succulents. I loved the way the shadows in that worked so easily in with the wood and got sidetracked down the tromp l’oeil hole on pinterest. Next thing you know I’m chuckling to myself and setting out to see if I can create the illusion of carving into the birch panel. (And putting on Dr Who in the background because I love it, and have seen it so I can follow along while not looking.)