On Sundays I teach Urban Sketching at Crealde School of Art. We spend most of our time outside sketching on the campus. This is the safest option to teach the class.
I did this sketch of Tropical Tree by John Walfe to demonstrate negative shapes in a sketch. Though the sculpture it the focus of the sketch, the pick up actually takes up more space o the page.
Rather than focusing on the trunk like yellow and green shapes I instead focused on the triangular shapes between the trunks. The same applied to the tree trunk in the background.
I also rushed this sketch to show that the paint does not have to be delicately applied to the sketch. I literally spattered paint and threw it at the page to create blunt rough textures.
I am always stressing perspective and making sure the viewer knows where the ground plane is. The cement base of the sculpture is the one hint about the ground plane while most other object are viewed rather straight on creating a flat image.