Sketching Trees in the Park. Rotring fountain pen in A4 sketchbook. Vivien Blackburn This is an old sketch done in a local park. I was trying to describe the different types of trees and their distinctive shapes, character and foliage with just pen lines. Looking back at it I like the positive/negative changes with light trunks against shadowed foliage and dark trunks against light, changing back and forth. That poor Rotring pen hasn't been used in a long time, maybe I should dig it out. I really prefer less scratchy media. I like trees - not quite as much as water but nearly! Trees can have very distinct character, rather like people and I really dislike the generic woolly trees in some 'how to' books. I've dug out some of the trees I've done over time - some, like this (done in '93) done some time ago and some more recent. They are in pen, pencil, charcoal, watercolour, oils, digital imagery, coloured pencil, ink, mixed media, acrylic, pastel, don