I was sitting on the New York City Highline last Sunday, enjoying the fine weather and the way the light fell through the birch trees.
I sketched a quick water colour postcard before moving on to a bar to eat pizza and watch the Giants get stuffed in the NFL.
Later in the day I got to thinking about the leaves on the trees and decided to draw one. The outline took just a minute and then I began to fill in the cell structure of the leaf. This small piece of work took me a long time, around three and a quarter hours in all. Some of the leaf was filled in at my desk in the teeny apartment I’m renting in NYC, the rest was inked in at various cafes and bars. After about an hour I confess I had a ‘wish I’d never started this’ moment, and I persisted. I’m pleased I did – the finished result has exceeded my expectations and will be a gift for Carole when I get home.
Here are a few work in progress photos