D&B - Day 14 The Addition of Black

I managed a little time on this piece today, after our return from Thornbury. While I was there and on the journey there and back, I spent a lot of time looking out the windows of the car at birch trees. It is easy to mistake Poplar for birch. Poplar have already leafed out. Their bark, though almost white, has a green tinge to it.
At 100Kph it's easy to mix them.
But my son in law has some beautiful specimens on his property and I have photographed them a few times.

This beautiful guy shows a lot of character, but in actuality is unsuitable as a model. This one is open grown, whereas my picture is a much dense situation. A younger tree is a better model.

This is your classic White or Paper Birch.
In forest situations it grows straight and sheds its lower branches  to make a long straight bole, prized, in the past by both our indigenous peoples and the settlers.

 

This picture best shows the black blotching on the older trunks. This is primarily where there had been a branch.

So I added some black material to the largest white trunk.

 

With the addition of some final shrubbery, I've reached the immediate foreground in this area.
When you look at the difference in the full scene, the black "spots" add that necessary punch.

The few larger trees need the black material to give the intensity of black. The smaller ones can be done with thread only. I'd expect to get the bulk of this finished tomorrow.
Hopefully!