Page 52 - sarah-simblet_sketch-book-for-the-artist

PLANTS AND GARDENS52

Fast Trees

IN CONTRAST TO THE QUIET, formal detail of other drawings weight of abundant activity on this late summer's day.
in this chapter, these powerful fast trees enact the actions Mondrian's arch of scratching branches is drawn with
of plants. Each tree reaches out and holds its landscape with such force it will always be alive. We can still feel his hand
dynamism and pulse. In both drawings we find testament storming across the paper. Set within a frame of smudged
to the inexorable energy of growth. landscape, the tree possesses a musical agitation. This
characteristic will increase in the artist's later abstract
Rembrandt expresses a delicate quickness. Gentle lines work. Here, we see a punctuated ordering of space. Sharp
draw a warm breeze through this remote wooded garden. branches cut out negative shapes of winter sky.
Rustling in a loose foliage of soft marks, his pen evokes the

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN Horizon Pen and ink lines describing foliage also tell Cottage Among Trees
Dutch painter; etcher; and draftsman. Rembrandt's prolific us the directions of sunlight and wind. An arc crossing the
output comprises oil paintings of historical and religious bottom of the drawing from one side to the other supports 1648-50
subjects together with group and self- portraits. His the scene and separates us from the landscape beyond. 63/4 x121/8in ( I 7 I x 308 mm)
emotive etchings and pen and ink drawings (see also Compare Rembrandt's arc to that of Mondrian's. and note R E M B R A N D T V A N RIJN
p. 174) are great resources for artists learning to the similar treatment of low horizons in both works
understand the potential of these media. emphasizing the height and dominance of trees.