Ho Hum

First it was 50 miles per hour wind coupled with freezing temperature.

Now it is 50 miles per hour wind with mild temperature but tons of rain.  A blistery day.

Swells are at 20 feet.  The images of waves slapping the jetties are awesome.  Too bad I am too chicken to brave the weather.  Staying home to paint instead.  I need to nurture my sanguine disposition.

The wind and rain had pretty much stripped the trees of their leaves.  The silhouette left by the branches is like looking at the sky through a well used loofah.

I'll be faithful to the cut out look.  Ink shall be my color.  I mixed alum solution with my ink, hoping to achieve the crystalline margin amongst the different brush strokes.

I laid out the main trunks and grew my tree from there.

The trees are more filled out now.

Using broad side tip strokes to depict what little is left on the branches. I slanted my brush strokes at an angle to create some movement.  I am sure the pithy rain gave me that idea.

I filled in the gaps using a combination of dots and short dabs to make the scene a little busier than it really is.

Finally I used a very light sepia color to selectively darken the left side and upper corner of the painting, contrasting that with the white space and the more sparse arrangement on the right, befitting my idea of harmony.

I did not get the anticipated white margins from using the alum solution.  I believe this is because I am using a semi-sized paper instead of the raw un-sized Xuan that had been my staple.