 Welcome to Monet Cafe! I'm artist Susan Jenkins and I have another tree tutorial that was from last month in August that was tree month and I didn't get the chance to edit and upload it. So I wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. So here it is. Please subscribe if you haven't and click that little bell icon to be notified of future videos. Hello and welcome to Monet Cafe! I'm artist Susan Jenkins. I am glad you're here with me today. I'm gonna paint some trees, share with you product information, tips and techniques. I hope you'll follow along and I hope you'll follow on social media all of the sites affiliated with Monet Cafe. Monet Cafe Art Group on Facebook. You can find me on Instagram at Susan Jenkins Artist. Share your work there and tag me. And also you can become a patron of mine if you like for only $5 a month. I'll talk more about that later. But without further ado let's get to painting. Alright here we go. I'm using a reference image from one of our very own members in the Monet Cafe Art Group on Facebook. Her name is Robin Harris. That's another great asset about that group. We've got over 13,000 members from all over the world. Many of them share their own reference images allowing others to paint. So you get reference material from everywhere. All kinds of different subject matter. So I found this image from one of Robin's albums. I loved this grouping of trees. Thus far during tree months I've been focusing more on single trees. And often we paint trees in groups. And so I'd like to approach that and talk about how we simplify things. Sometimes there's so much going on. I particularly liked the gestural quality of these foreground trees. But there's a lot going on. So how do we get a focal point strategy and approach that? That'll be one of the topics. But first it's usually a good idea to get an initial sketch and identify those things that you want to stand out. The things that are most important or most beautiful to you about the image. So let's do that right now. The proportions of this image that I'll be painting is going to be 14 inches by 9 and a half inches. You can reduce that you know proportionally if you like. But I'm gonna go ahead and identify some of these elements that I really like. I'm just using a little Prismacolor new pastel. They're good for sketching. This is a nice dark that I like. It's actually called spruce blue. And it is number 305 is the number. It's made by Prismacolor called new pastel. So that's all I'm going to be using here. And I'm just going to get a little idea of some of the gesture of the trees and a little bit of a value study. Now like I said, lots going on. But what I really like is the grouping of trees right here in the front. And I like how they are just kind of they're kind of low down here in the landscape. And they're kind of just reaching up and twisting in and out. These look like birch trees. And don't be afraid to use different techniques when you're sketching. I'm just looking at some of the gestural quality here. You can twist some of them are thinner than others. Right now, I'm just kind of getting the the motion of the trees rather than getting the thickness of the trees. There's one over here kind of far over. I do kind of like that one. I think I would push that back to lead the eye down the trail. I like how they kind of go up and twist in another twist in and up. And you want to make sure you capture that because to me that's what's really pretty about this particular type of tree. Back here, we don't want everything on the same plane. There are some that are lower like this one. And I'll go ahead and make this one a little thicker. Bend, bend, bend. I like those little bends like that. This one would be a little higher up. We don't want everything flat. I like perspective in in painting. Okay, this one's actually got one going behind there. And I do like how this one is kind of twisting up and in here. There's one kind of twisting behind here. And it's kind of coming in and up and out in the middle. I continue to try and capture this gestural quality of the trees. And I'm using the reference image more as a guide than a strict photo. I have to adhere to every single tree where it is. And the one thing I do want is to keep some energy and movement in these trees. And now I will start adding some of the values that are in this photo. I'm basically just turning this little new pastel on its side. And I am making shapes. I'm not focusing on individual leaves. I'm literally just kind of blurring my eyes and looking at the dark areas where they are. And as you can see, the darkest area, if you look at the photo, where would you say that is? You can kind of tell where I've already put it. It's down at the base of those trees. Now, what I'm using here is a little blending tool. Rather than using my finger to blend in and get a value study, it's a little packing peanut. Like this is where you get in packages that are to protect the items inside. Adding a little bit more of the dark. I decided to make that road a little bit more distinct and bring it in from the left kind of curving up and around. So I thought that gave a little bit more of an interesting composition. And as a focal point strategy, the eye goes primarily to areas of high contrast. So right where I have my darkest dark there at the base of those trees, I want the trees to be lighter to draw the eye in to that contrast value difference. And so I'm using a little kneaded eraser to kind of erase out some of the tree trunks. For this particular pastel painting, I decided to do an underpainting using these Durwent Ink Tense Blocks. They come in sets of different quantities. You don't have to get the whole set like I have. I've got the 72 set, but they're awesome. They're very brilliant and beautiful. And fortunately, as I work, you guys are going to be able to see my method of how I'm going to be using these some of the colors that I'm using. And that is because I was able to purchase some new equipment thanks to the support that I get on my Patreon page. So I want to say a big shout out. Thank you to my patrons. If you don't know what that is, it's a way you can support this channel for only $5 a month. It really does help to make these videos better and allows me to keep bringing free content here on Monet Cafe. And here's where you are able to get kind of a bird's eye view from that camera and the new camera arm I put up above. So hopefully that'll help. I don't have it perfected yet. Now I'm using these Derwent Ink Tense Blocks in a way that I think I've only played around with using it this way before. And I decided to use them almost like a watercolor palette. They are ink. They're compressed ink. And that's why they're so brilliant. But I wanted to get kind of a wash, a soft wash prior to getting some of the bold color. You'll see how I do that in just a minute. Now I started out, sometimes after I haven't painted for a while, I have to remember not to get too tight and fussy myself. And I was getting a little bit too fastidious with where I was putting things and I'm like, okay, I got to change my strategy here. So I got a larger brush and I just started painting big shapes and colors that I thought would complement the final painting. Now by the way, the surface that I'm using is Fisher 400. I love the surface. It's a sanded pastel surface, almost exactly like UART paper. If you have used UART paper before, it's almost exactly the same, except Fisher does not warp. UART paper has this tendency to warp and bend. So I love this surface. It's awesome. Now, as you can see, this has a really soft wash moody effect because of the technique I'm using, literally combining the inktense blocks with some water on my brush. Now here is how to get the bold, brilliant color that these Derwent inktense blocks are known for. And I'm using I actually break them. You can see me there. I just broke it and I break them into manageable sizes so that I can lay it on its side. I don't have that big long piece that I'm trying to paint with or actually kind of sketch with here. What I'm doing here is I'm using some of the greens. Notice I got down that soft moody color, which was really just to represent the sky. Notice how I did that one kind of warm the distant mountains and the road and the ground area. So I'm laying these greens on top of that, and they will be brighter in color and darker in value because of this technique. When you actually apply them to the pastel surface in this method rather than with the brush and the water that I did before, they will come out more intense and bold and darker in value. And the reason I'm doing that is because these leaves and trees and foreground elements are all going to be darker. So I wanted darker values for this. Now I'm using I don't know if I've ever used this before. I decided to use a fan brush. Now what I'm doing is this is typically how I've used in my past videos and many pastel artists use the Derwent blocks. You lay down the Derwent intense block on your pastel surface and then you wet it with either water or alcohol. A lot of people say why would you use alcohol? Well, it dries faster. I think it behaves a little differently too. But you notice the intensity here. And I thought this fan brush was nice because it would give some texture to some of the grasses and the leaf shapes. And all I'm focusing is very similar to the sketch is large shapes and values. I squint my eyes to see the color and the value. And then I just go for it. Often painting is I don't know if I should use the word easy, but sometimes it's easier than we think. We're really just painting shapes and values here and having some fun with it. So I am definitely having fun with this. I'll do this technique for sure with the intense blocks because I liked getting that soft wash down first with that original technique, almost like watercolor and then getting your darker values down by laying down the intense blocks on the pastel paper. And once that's dry, it's time for pastels. This set is by Terry Ludwig. I love this set. You just saw my sock feet there. It's called the Maggie Price Basic Values 60 Soft Pastels. I love Terry Ludwig Pastels. They behave beautifully on this Fisher 400 surface. And as I typically do, I like to go ahead and get in some of my dark values. Now, unfortunately, the video editing software I'm using doesn't allow me to insert two images on top of this at the same time. Otherwise, I would have gone ahead and put the reference image up top along with the actual video footage of my hands as I paint. So I've got to figure out a workaround for that. But you can access the reference image. I'm going to provide a clickable link in the description of this video. If you'd like to pull it up and watch or be able to view the reference image, the actual photo as I'm painting. So again, I'm just squinting. I'm looking at the dark values. I'm once again using that little spruce blue new pastel. And now I'm using my little packing peanut. That is an excellent blending tool that I used before. But I noticed it was catching on this Fisher 400 paper. It was a little bit. The paper is a little bit too textural for that. So I went back to another blending tool that I use, which is a piece of pipe foam insulation that you can get at any hardware store. It's what you insulate your pipes with if you live in a cold climate. And it really is a great blending tool. So that just kind of softened up some of the dark values. And now it's time to get started with more color and pastel application. I really liked the coolness of some of the greens in the trees. I'll add some warmth later, but I'm getting the cool green colors down primarily as the darker values to begin with, because I know they're kind of in the shadow. You can tell there's a lot of light going on behind them with that beautiful purple mountain. And as you can see, you see the purple peeking through and that beautiful magenta pink color on the ground. And that was the original reason for getting that wash in to begin with. And now I'm not all too fussy about the sky in the background. I'm going to be carving sky holes in later. Now look at that gorgeous magenta. Now that is from you can see me holding up. This is the Terry Ludwig dark set. They make a set one and a set two. And I went ahead and got both of them. Actually, a few years ago, you can see how they've lasted me a long time there. I still have plenty of pastel left in this set. So I love this kind of burgundy magenta color. And I really played around with this color palette and had some fun with it. You'll see at the end, I even add some brilliant pinks and oh my goodness, the blues are just going to be gorgeous in this with this Maggie price set. Now I'm enhancing some of the coral kind of colors to go along with that earth. Earth colors typically in the foreground are going to be warmer anyway. So I thought that would be a nice combination with that magenta. Now I'm intensifying it a bit. I know I'm going to be adding other layers on top of this. So I went ahead and intensified the road. I knew I wanted it to be a lighter value because it has more light coming down coming through that little opening there. I'm using my little blending tool again just to kind of soften things. And this is exactly proof of the beauty of sanded surfaces. It's the layering capability that you get. And that's really something that took me a while to get my head wrapped around that your painting goes through some artists call it an adolescent stage or an awkward teenage stage to begin with because we're building these values and colors as layers. And it doesn't, as a matter of fact, it's not good if it looks too fixed too soon. You want to keep it loose and gradually add those layers. And then it gives you the ability. I mentioned talking about focal point more in this. It gives you the ability to later choose. Okay, what are my elements that are the focal point? And then you can layer like I mentioned before areas of light value in contrast with the dark values to draw the eye into that area. And you will see me do that later with that focal area of those birch trees reaching up and out. Now you see I'm gradually adding some warmer greens on this and I'm sneaking in some of these cooler greens in those areas. Light's going to be hitting some of those trees and leaves in the background. So I'm just kind of it's like a dance to me painting and the process of painting is you're just kind of looking at colors and values and playing and enjoying and experiencing the moment of it. Not just getting so fussy about having everything just so perfect. And now it may appear that I have lost my trees. Where are these trees? But again, that's the beauty of layering. I know that I can come in and layer on top of what's already there to reestablish where the trees are. I'm sneaking in a little bit of that peachy color to reestablish where the sky is as well. And now here is a technique it's called twisting. I am pulling and twisting this pastel to enhance some of that gesture in these background trees. And I don't want to overdo some of the trees that are not the focal area. I'm just suggesting them giving nice leanings to the trees and making sure to not have them too stiff or static. I apologize I lost a little bit of my camera footage that I just added back here. Again, I'm still trying to perfect this. The the camera battery sometimes runs out and I'm not aware of it and I don't get all of the footage. So I'll get that worked out. All right now where's that blue from this distant mountain. It's time to add that back in. And as you see I have plenty of layering capability here. So what I'm doing is it's gradually going to go from more blue at the top of the mountain in the distance and gradually get down to more purples as it comes down towards the horizon line wherever that would be back there. And so I'm just really making little shapes in between the trees. I'm not getting so caught up on the shapes being in exact places but you do want to pay attention because this isn't just messy. You know there is a strategy to it but so it's always this fine line between what is too tight and what's just you know crazy and messy. So you are paying attention to where some of these colors and values and shapes are but we're not making hard edges or anything so precise yet. And here I am re-establishing again some of the light color in the sky just peeking that through some of these tree leaf shapes. And now I'm going to start using this Terry Ludwig pastel here. This is from the Maggie Price set here that will be the tree trunks once again for these foreground trees. I'm giving some little gestural marks keeping some energy and bends to those trees. And here you'll see me developing my strategy. I even use some cooler colors for some of the trees that are in behind some of the foreground trees because that's what happens in the shadow. Things cool off. And now I'm going to be gradually adding some of the lighter areas of the trees and that's often how we work with soft pastels. We get our darker value down first for contrast and then we add the lighter values on top. And you see I kind of skip my pastel along here and give some of that energy and feeling of the trees twisting and bending. I do apologize that I didn't have as much real-time footage in this video. Again this is a remnant from Tree Month in August and I really need to get to this month's theme which is Flower Month in Monet Café. And I've had a few little life challenges come up and get in the way of my painting. So hopefully I'll have some more flower tutorials coming. If you're in the Monet Café art group on Facebook you know that we have an album for reference images for all of the Monet Café members to be able to submit their photos. I'm calling it flowers. What am I calling it? A world of flowers and it's because we have members all over the world so we're literally getting flower reference images from everywhere on earth and the members are using each other's reference images to create flower paintings this month. So it's a lot of fun. So if you're a member there I can't wait to see what you add to the album to the painting challenge album that we have. And now you can see here I am still establishing some of the lighter little areas of these birch trees. I am going to zoom in even more when I get to some of the little darker areas. That's one thing birch trees are kind of known for is those little dark marks that kind of skip along the tree and just their beautiful trunks. I really love them. All right I've had a little bit of a cold so I'm going to give my voice a break. Give you guys some music. Oh see those purples I'm adding back there. I love adding purples in distant tree areas. So enjoy the music. I will be back. Also I do really appreciate it. If you sometimes I forget to do this. I'll watch someone else's video and I forget to hit the like button. It really does help the videos on YouTube and my channel. On YouTube it's in general. So please like this video. Comment. I love to hear your comments and subscribe if you haven't already. All right enjoy this. I'll be back at the end. And because many of you often ask about what the song is in a particular video I wanted to give credit to Akash Gandhi and this song is called Chords of Harmony. Come together and as you can probably notice I did my signature what I call punching up color. I sometimes just see that man it would be so neat if I just added like a brilliant pink here and some of those gorgeous blues down into the road. So I had some fun with color with this one. And I also decided to go into some of the the leaves in the reference image were kind of coming forward and that was the leaves over right here. The ones that were to the upper right side. And I just decided to go ahead and give them a little bit of an outline using a Prismacolor new pastel. Just some greens and give it some grasses. These new pastels are great for just some little linear work like that. So I hope you've enjoyed this. I hope you've learned something. And if you're a patron of mine you know what to do. If you create from this video please share it in our homework album so I can see your work. Also if you're not a patron of mine you can share your results on Instagram and tag me at Susan Jenkins Artist. All right guys be blessed and happy painting.