I DON'T know how it is, but I can't do trees is a remark an artist frequently hears; and it is too often justified by the poor and crude attempts at tree painting that accompany it. And to the regretful exclamation perhaps something is added about want of knack the "right sort of touch" as though, in order to successfully draw or paint a tree (as distinct from the painting of any other object) some extraordinary gift or sleight of hand were necessary, some special cleverness of manipulation that should enable its possessor to accomplish "tree-work" perhaps without effort, and certainly without very much study.
