Lípa

A linden with an upright trunk

The linden is among the most commonly planted trees of central Europe. It grows by wayside chapels, on village greens, along avenues and in front of farmsteads. It is marked by a straight trunk running columnar upwards, by heart-shaped leaves and by soft wood that every carver notices. The model represents a finished tree 10.1 cm tall and the package holds a single piece.

Why it suits local subjects

For scenes set in the Czech and Moravian countryside the linden is all but obligatory. Placed beside a wayside chapel, by a monument or at the corner of a farmstead it does more for the atmosphere than another piece of equipment. Its upright shape also allows it to be set close to a building without the crown reaching into the roof or blocking the view of the facade.

The details that decide

The trunk tends to be one color out of the factory, so it pays to run a dark wash into the texture and bring the edges out with a lighter tone. On a linden the bark is gray-brown and on older specimens it is cracked lengthwise. Around the foot of the tree there is in reality trodden earth, or a circular bed edged with stones, which is a rewarding detail that gives a scene the sense of being lived in. If the scene is set in summer, you can mix a light yellow scatter into the crown as a hint of the blossom that every beekeeper notices. The tree is planted into a drilled hole and the joint is best supported until the glue dries, because the crown is heavier than it looks. Lindens were often planted in pairs or in even rows along roads, so two or three pieces side by side read as more historically accurate than a single tree. The spacing need not be exact, as even a real avenue has gaps where specimens have died.