Tree Memories from Climate Conversations Exhibits

This is page one of a compilation of memories gathered from folks at several Climate Conversation Exhibits. These are memories that people shared of a tree from their past. Some are profound, some are silly, some are fun. I hope it makes you think about the climate and how we can save our planet. 
 

Climate Conversation Banners

These banners are a combination of art and memories. The art is from Wil and Maura Bosbyshell. Maura provides her fiber art. Wil contributes his Tree drawings. The quotes are memories gathered at past installations of the Climate Conversations: Memory Tree exhibit. Some of the memories are sad, others moving and some are just fun.

 

Climate Conversation Tree Number 21 - Its BIG!

This is the 21st drawing in my Climate Conversation tree series and it is very large. It is six by three feet in size on paper. I began this drawing by going into the woods near Penland and finding this very scared tree. I rolled the paper into thirds and rubbed different parts of the tree. Then I came back into my studio and used the marks provided by the tree to add details and contrast. 

So it is representational of a real tree, but the interior marks become very abstract. 

A Prayer for Mother Earth on Mother's Day

A prayer for Mother Earth on Mother's Day

God by whom our fragile earth is blessed,
make us servants of your creation,
respecting and protecting all that you have made.

Teach us the joy of field and flower,
the splendour of forest and tree,
the grandeur of ocean and river.

Make us yearn for a world where all may flourish.
Show us how to walk gently on the earth and
hold all in trust for future generations.

Watercolor on paper, 8 x 10, Mountain to Sea Trail Misty Morning

Climate Conversations: Artists Talk & Guided Tour

 

Climate Conversations: Creation Care Artists talk and guided tour.

This Sunday morning May 8 at 11:30 Wil Bosbyshell will lead a tour of the Holy Comforter Climate art exhibition during the adult program.

Room 206 in Van Every is now Gallery 206 with Climate Conversations: An art experience featuring works by Wil and Maura Bosbyshell and others, including Caroline C. Brown, Tom Cooke, Mary W. Cox and Holli Adams.

The exhibit invites us to see and value God’s endangered creation in new ways. The adult forum after the 10 a.m. service will feature speakers on ways we can address the climate crisis and protect “this fragile earth, our island home.”

The exhibit features drawings, acrylic painting, watercolor paintings, floral prints, photographs and table runners.

The exhibit runs to the end of May at 2701 Park Road in Charlotte.

The Latest Tree Drawings!

I have finished these drawings and I am in the process of getting them framed. They really came out well. The one above is 40 x 36...Big! Compositionally, no branches on one side. 

36 x 36 on rice paper! I really weighted the branches to one side in this drawing. 

30 x 22 on parchment! No small delicate branches in this one. 

24 x 18 on color textured paper. The detailed texture is high contrast in the center of the tree, then less detail and contrast toward the edges. 

14 x 11 in watercolor paper. 

Climate Conversation Drawing 17

Climate Conversations:

• I love the gingko tree in our front yard and love to see the leaves turn golden in the fall.

• I love our fig tree – it produces too much to enjoy. Started out as a little stick and now provides shade to our yard.

• Growing up, there was an enormous Japanese magnolia tree in my backyard. Every spring it would burst into full loom and by early summer the petals rained from the boughs.

This tree drawing is on pale yellow paper that is heavily textured, 18 x 24. This cedar tree in the North Carolina Mountains was heavily scarred. It was not dead, but was splitting very badly in some places. I used a full range of light and dark values in the center of the tree, then used less contrast at the edges of the tree. 

 

Climate Conversation Drawing 16

 

This drawing is on watercolor paper. It is the darkest of the series so far.

Conversations:

I last climbed a tree as a child in my parents’ backyard.

My favorite tree was my neighbors’ tree with a tire swing

The future feels bleak, but thanks for trying, trees.

Trees absorb a great deal of water! Drawing 15

Climate Conversation: My favorite tree is the willow oak in our front yard in Fourth Ward. It shaded our home for 40 years. We pruned it and raked its leaves all the time. When it came down, we had to add a sump pump under our house to handle all the water it absorbed [had been absorbing].

Drawing 15, 30x20 inches, graphite on paper

Drawing 15 Complete!

This is drawing 15 in the Tree Series I am working on. It is part of a future exhibit I am calling Climate Conversations. This is 22 x 30 on printing paper. 

The left edge of the tree is almost lost and very light in value. The tree has a very scarred texture. Looks like many nails were driven into the tree in the past. Many circular marks as well that I found fascinating. This was a combination of trees on the Penland Property. 

Studio Tour

Go on a tour of my studio and see my latest Tree Series drawings. 

Experimenting with Paper

This is an experiment in paper with one of my tree series drawings. Usually I use sketch paper, but this is printing paper which is much thicker than sketch paper. Because of the thickness the initial step of rubbing texture from the tree is more subtle than my past drawings. This drawing is coming out with less dark values, interesting. We will see what happens. 

Large Scale Tree Series drawing in the works!

This is a 3 x 4 foot drawing on sketch paper which is in process. It's about 50% complete. I began this drawing in Penland and have continued working on it at my studio at the McColl Center. This is the largest drawing I have done in this series to date. 

 

Tree Series: Drawing 14 Complete!

Here is Tree Series Drawing 14! While I was at Penland School of Arts & Craft in the NC Mountains this summer I began expanding and experimenting with my Tree Series. For this drawing I choose to use a very textured and lightly colored paper. All previous drawings in this seresin had been on white, 18 x 24 sketch paper. 

I took the paper into the woods near Spruce Pine NC and rubbed it onto a tree in several places. Then I went back to my studio and enhanced the natural texture. I decided to show the most detail in the middle of the tree trunk and allow the details to fade toward the edges. 

Penland School of Art & Craft is amazing!

I took an experimental drawing class with Harriet Hoover at Penland this summer. It was an amazing class. Penland has a tremendous reputation for arts instruction and it lived up to it! Here are a few of the pieces I drew during my two weeks there. More to come. 

Experimented with paper, this is parchment. 

A few of the tree drawing together on a wall. The larger one is 6 feet tall. 

Very textured paper. Concentrated the darker values and detail in the center, then there is less value contrast and detail as you move out. 

This is very thin paper. The light areas are full of texture. 

 

Biography updated for 2021!

Biography

Wil Bosbyshell received a BFA (as a member of the ROTC) and MBA from the University of Georgia, and spent six years as an officer in the US Army following his undergraduate education. After a successful business career in the private sector, Bosbyshell was awarded a residency at the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, which set the course for his artistic career. He has held a studio at the Charlotte Art League for 23 years, and has been an arts professor for close to two decades at both the former Art Institute of Charlotte and Rowan Community College. His work has been shown in numerous gallery and community exhibitions, both solo and collective, including Shain Gallery, Central Piedmont Community College, and Elder Gallery, where his participation in the 2018 group exhibition Weight received critical acclaim from the New York Times. Bosbyshell and his work also had a feature in the prestigious Watercolor Magazine, and he has been highlighted in numerous other publications both locally and regionally. His work can be found in dozens of private and corporate collections locally and nationally. Bosbyshell is dedicated to community service, with a particular focus on youth, and has served on various boards and leadership positions, including for Scouts and a Group Living Housing Corporation at the University of Georgia. He resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

Reality vs. Perception or Photography

This is Drawing 13 of my Tree Series. The actual drawing exists in reality somewhere between these two images. The one on top is a high contrast photo or scan. It is a little to dark, but captures some nice light areas. The image below captures the range of middle gray pencil more actually, but is too light in the shadow areas. So which is true: perception or reality? 

 

Commissioning Art Part 5: The Final

 

Here is the final drawing. The bark had such a variety of textures that different parts of the drawing have very different feels. The centerpiece of the drawing is the smooth bark in the center with several key marks. 

Below are several close ups. 

Here are some close up details of the final Drawing. This is drawing 13 in my Tree Series. This is one of the focal points of smooth bark. 

I am balancing the large tree trunk with the small delicate branches to the right. 

The edge of the tree is important to the feeling of the drawing. Here is some of the bark peeling off. Also on the left side are many cuts into the tree. 

 The final drawing is done! This is drawing 13 in my Tree Series. 

Commissioning Art Part 4: The drawing process

Above, I began by using a very light silhouette of the entire tree to set the composition. Next with a very soft dark pencil I put in the big textured areas. I used 120lb paper size 24 x 18. I use a wide range of pencils from 8H to 8B. H pencils are hard and light; B pencils are soft and dark.An 8B pencil is almost charcoal. 

Next I added the large areas of 50% gray. I put in the big shapes of the branch on the right. As a put in teh values, light and dark, I rub them with a paper towel. 

One of the focal parts of this tree is the big section of smooth bark in the middle. I used 8H, 7H and 6H pencils to put in some of the very light areas of bark. 

When I am working on a drawing, I refer to the photograph and also the initial sketch. I added many of the distinct cracks, scars and knots to the tree. All trees have multiple patterns going on, many are cross current to the mail bark pattern. 

I try to work on the drawing as a whole, bring up all the different areas together. 

 Here the drawing is about 90% complete. I added many of the small branches and bark shapes. 

Playing with Tree Series Close Ups and Compositions

Experimenting with cropping and composition with the various Tree drawings.