Can't see the forest for the trees

My post title comes from a common expression suggesting that if we focus just on parts or details of a whole, the meaning of the whole can be obscured. That can certainly be the case in illustration, where detail work can temporarily bog down the main visual idea. All in good time each leaf is drawn, each bough is sketched in, each bunny finds it's place nestled in the under-story. It can sometimes take longer than I'd like!

Right now, I am deep in the forest, the North Woods of the upper midwest to be exact, and have had my share the last few weeks of drawing trees! I am ready to experience and share the landscape as a whole, as the characters in this new picture book soon will. I'm anxious for "the girls" to wander over moss softened pathways, smell the clean scent of pine, hear the chitter of chickadees above, feel the rough birch bark, taste a good picnic sandwich under shady summer canapy... All in good time. But for today, it is back to twigs in trees...