Tree Series: Artistic Process

Climate change, the accessibility of drawing, and universality with trees are the factors that inform my current drawing series.

Travelling across Alaska while in the army, and my residency in Hungary led me to explore the impact of humans on the landscape. Trees grant us our existence on Earth. Without them we do not have a future. Most people see trees as the proverbial abstract forest; I see them as individuals. Each tree has a personality and a story to tell us.

My drawings center on the interaction between the texture of the bark, the natural design of the limbs and depiction of the scars left by time and weather. I look for deep shadows in the knots and patterns in the bark. I draw to transform natural detail into massive, solid shapes, achieving unique perspectives from an up close and personal vantage point.

When I draw a tree, I get close up and study the detailed textures, bark, branches, etc. Older trees show the scars of living and time, just like people. A broken or twisted branch is beautiful in the story that it communicates.

I have been working in graphite as my primary medium since 2008. My process is as follows. I travel to locations where there are older trees like the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Pisgah National Forest or locally north Charlotte’s Ribbonwalk. There I observe the trees and spend time with them. I sketch on location, sometimes using rubbings of the bark’s texture. I also photograph the tree for future reference.

On return to my studio, I use the sketches, texture rubbings and the photos to draw very detailed close-up drawings in graphite. I include the living, dead and broken branches. Before I put marks on the paper, I score the paper with rough objects like rocks, etc. This scoring shows up as white texture in the dark values of the final work. I then apply the graphite in values light to dark. At various times in the process I randomly make marks on the paper with graphite or other instruments to emulate the bark imperfections and variations.

On observation, the viewer can literally see the divine, through the divine proportion in the bark and branches. I emphasize the ratios found naturally in branches that result in the wonderful asymmetrical balance that stimulates and fascinates our unconscious minds. My drawings are heavily focused on a full range of light and dark values and include as much of the tree’s individual personality as possible. As in nature, some branches of a tree are almost invisible until you get really close. I reward the viewer to get up-close and linger with my drawings.  

I want viewers to develop a more personal relationship with trees, leading to greater understanding of their important in the ecosystem.