In this part of the course, I have most enjoyed drawing trees and skies. I liked the composition of a few of my sketches where the foreground was in silhouette. I took a lot of pictures in the Loire Valley at the end of our holiday with composition in mind because it is fairly flat and I often saw interesting buildings under fantastic skies. I wanted to try a bright sunny sky with clouds that didn’t look like storm clouds. I’ve found that quite difficult, I think perhaps I need more pale pastels.

I’m slightly disappointed with the sky in this picture. It doesn’t ring quite true to me for some reason. I think because the edges of the clouds don’t reflect sunlight enough. I couldn’t figure out how to improve that and spent hours effectively going in circles.

I really like the trees and Château. I think I’ve managed to capture the shadows and reflections in the river well. I especially like the highlight on the riverbank where the sun hits the shallows. I paused for quite a while deciding whether to add it or not but in the end the simple single stroke of line is very effective.

I just noticed I forgot to add a tree to match the accidental reflection on the left (I caught the page with a hand-wipe). Too late now- I’ve already posted my work!