A Study of Moss

Moss is a quintessential ingredient of fairy tale pictures.  I love the soft textures, the brilliant emerald shades, the pale blue-grey-green of lichens, the tiny red caps some of them produce.  But drawing and painting moss is far more difficult than it would seem.  I am still struggling to master moss.

If anyone has techniques for drawing and painting moss, please share!  I'd love to post a wide variety of  artists' styles.  I have tried different looks, but so far am not especially pleased with any of them.

There is the very vague, watery style:

And the slightly more defined look with ink outlines:

And the draped look over rocks:

But getting good close-up drawings or paintings of moss and lichens is something I really must work on.  My fairies deserve no less than inviting mossy carpets to drape themselves upon, or adorn themselves with, or to have sprouting from their fairy cottages.  So I will work on it and post my results in the future.  Meanwhile I am snapping photos wherever I can.  And, of course, practicing.  The grass fleas of Minglemist have been quite helpful!

Back to the drawing board....