Silverpoint

Apple Trees at Auvers

Apple Trees at Auvers (Pommiers à Auvers), Daubigny, 1877
Cleveland Museum of Art

Daubigny, Apple Trees at Auvers (Pommiers à Auvers), 1877. etching.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of John Bonebrake

Master studyLine + Mass

Apple Trees at Auvers

Trees as a screen, horizon low, sky two-thirds of the sheet

An 1877 etching, one of Daubigny's last: a clump of apple trees on a field, horizon low, sky enormous and empty. The format Corot used for the Souvenirs, in its plainest form. Copy three Daubignys and you own that format.

In pencilAn etched line is a drawn line. Copy it with hard grades and long points: tone from the spacing and direction of lines, cross-hatching only in the darkest third, no smudging anywhere.

Difficulty
Time
about 1.5 h
You draw with
H, HB, 2B graphite
Format and horizonBuilding a tree from massesTexture lives at the edgeThe receding ground

Why this one

  • The low horizon and the big sky, as a habit.
  • A tree clump as one mass with a broken edge.
  • A sheet that is mostly paper and still a finished picture.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood H, HB, 2B H, HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad or smooth cartridge
  • 2H and H with long points
  • HB for accents
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Sandpaper block

Watch first

All videos →

Trees as masses in graphite, with the edge texture where it belongs.

YouTube
Create great art compositions with these thumbnail sketch techniquesArt Prof · Thumbnails as design, not sketches. Pairs with the viewfinder.

The plan

3 stages · ~70 min
  1. 1

    Horizon at a third

    10 min

    Measure and draw the horizon a third up. Envelope the clump as one shape above it.

    Format and horizon: a landscape format with a low horizon for a big sky, a landscape format with a high horizon for a big ground, and a portrait format for a tall subject; never the horizon in the centreLOW HORIZON · SKYHIGH HORIZON · GROUNDPORTRAIT · TALL SUBJECTCENTRED · CUT IN HALFDecide what the picture is ABOUT.Sky? Horizon low. Ground and buildings? Horizon high.One tall thing? Turn the paper.The first decision on every page is where the horizon goes. Make it before the first mark.
    FigureLow horizon, big sky.
    Checklist0 / 2
  2. 2

    The clump as mass

    30 min

    HB: hatch the clump as one mass, darkest at its base and centre, opening toward the top edge where the sky breaks in. Trunks as three short darks under it.

    Four stages of a tree: the whole silhouette, then three to five big clumps, then a light side and shadow side on each clump, then leaf texture only along edges1 · SILHOUETTE2 · CLUMPS3 · LIGHT/SHADOW4 · EDGE MARKSEach clump is a sphere with its own light side, shadow side and cast shadow onto theclump below.Never draw a leaf. Draw masses that catch light, then let the edges say "leaves".
    FigureMass first.
    Checklist0 / 3
  3. 3

    Ground and compare

    30 min

    Horizontal strokes across the field, closer near the bottom. Leave the sky. Note, date, box.

    Checklist0 / 3

What it should look like

  • A clump of trees on a line, under a great deal of nothing.
  • Mass with a broken edge, not leaves.

Where it goes wrong

  • Filling the sky. Two-thirds of nothing feels wrong. Daubigny left it. The emptiness is the picture.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~90 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextSouvenir of Italy (etching)

Before this, ideally

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