Posts Tagged ‘Mountain Birch’
Paper Birch
In the last five months, I have been learning how to paint with watercolors. I’ve painted with acrylics for some time, and I love to draw with pencil, but watercolors always seemed daunting to me.
If you are a follower of my Blog, you will know my early attempts at watercolor have been of views from my virtual cycling trip in central France and on the Ile de Ré. I have also done some studies of New Brunswick wildflowers.
Among the subjects I found fun to paint on Ile de Ré were the vine-covered trees that grow along the road.
This week, on a trip to see our camp, I studied some of the characteristics of Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), a tree growing everywhere on our property by the lake …
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Some of these trees are actually Mountain Birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh. var. cordifolia (Reg.) Reg.), a variety of the Paper Birch. This variety is quite common in eastern Canada. Its distinguishing characteristic is the heart-shape of its leaves, especially at the base of the leaf.
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The bark of the Paper Birch and Mountain Birch is predominantly white, although parts of the tree can be yellowish or quite black. Its bark strips readily from the tree, in sheets, leaving a reddish-orange inner bark which turns black with age …
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To paint the birch, I used Painter’s Tape to mask the trunks of the trees. Then I painted the background. Once the background was dry, I stripped the Painter’s Tape away and added the bark details in the white space left behind. Here are three paintings of Mountain Birch …
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June 21, 2013 ‘Mountain Birch’ Jane Tims
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June 22, 2013 ‘Mountain Birch #2’ Jane Tims
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June 23, 2013 ‘Mountain Birch #3’ Jane Tims
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
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