A few weeks ago I posted about doing a rubbing of a tree root. For whatever reason over the last few months, I been captivated by parts of trees that are less noticeable, unless you find yourself tripping over the tree root! One of those other tree parts for me has been stumps. I see so many on my walks through the park and they intrigue me because they are odd shapes and the larger stumps tend to be hollow in the middle. I have tried to print these to no avail; the rings do not show up as a texture. But very recently I saw something equally as captivating to me that had possibilities.
This is a group of cut trees on a nearby construction site. Walking by I noticed this one trunk of a (sycamore) tree with a double hollowed out cavity in the middle. Even though I knew I could not print the rings I felt capturing this double cavity feature was worth a try. Below is what the tree looked like within the group. The one covered with paper is the one I was printing.
Below is a closer look at the print in progress. Aside from the openings, what was captured were the saw cuts. The diameter of this part of this tree trunk is 29″ vertically and 20″ horizontally.
And below is the print after I worked on it a bit more at home. I added the color of the outer ring and the heartwood with watercolor. To make the rubbing I used a pale yellow, a brown and a white Caran d’ache Neocolor I crayons and a metallic copper Abbey rubbing stick.
