Bark

Oak

A tree trunk's bark forms cracks or plates or peals as the tree grows bigger from the inside.  Many of the patterns created are similar, but often they can be distinct enough to help identify a tree.

Bark comes in many colors, ranging from white to light gray to dark grey to light brown and dark brown.  Some have distinct shades of green, tan, orange, reddish or maroon; or actual patches of the colors.  In the extreme this can give the tree a mottled appearance.

Siberian Elm

Splits in the bark can be small wrinkles, or shallow furrows, or deep fissures.  In some cases the tree appears almost smooth.  In other cases the pattern created by the ridges and furrows is very deep.  It can resemble long scaly plates, short blocky plates, or even give the tree a shaggy appearance.  The edges of the plates can be smooth, or irregular, or curled.  In some trees the bark exfoliates, peeling or flaking off the tree.

A leaf

The workshop had two parts.  One was to learn how to identify trees, which requires some basic knowledge of dendrology.  The other was to learn how to draw and paint trees and their parts (leaves, fruit, branches, bark, etc).  At the intersection of these two are the journals we would be starting.  I say starting, because we only had a week and it will take a lot longer then that to fill the journals.

We started by looking at leaves.  The part of a tree that collects sunlight and converts it to energy for the tree.  A part that we see a lot of.  A part that can be used to help identify the tree species.  We learned about the pattern of leaf arrangement, their shapes, margins and venation.  We also learned how to use leaf characteristics to identify trees.

Even though it was October, the daytime temperatures were still more like summer most days.  We did have two cold nights (31 and 34 degrees) that prompted the leaves to start turning color.  Some of the first leaves to turn were the Sassafras, and so one of these colorful leaves became my first journal entry.

I spent a week at the John C. Campbell Folk School attending a workshop on identifying and sketching trees in an illustrated journal, lead by Marilynn Brandenburger and Carol Parks.  It was a wonderful fall week and the workshop was amazing.  Carol led us on some great walks looking and learning about the trees, and Marilynn's demos really helped us make better journal pages.  I haven't had a chance to scan my journal entries in yet, but Marilynn has updated her blog with some beautiful examples.

While I was off identifying trees and sketching and painting them in my journal, my husband Steve was busy attending a glass bead making class lead by Bob Rubanowice.  This was Steve's second glass class, earlier this year he attended a glass fusing class lead by Beverly Fuller.  He made some really beautiful beads!