16 Plum Tree Drawings

2015

After strong winds, large branches were torn from my Plum Tree, I had made some drawings of the tree previously, however now I had the opportunity of making drawings of the Plum Tree using the tree as the material for drawing. So I made charcoal from the wood.

After studying the process involved in making charcoal I began making initially small amounts with variable results. Charcoal can be made in many different ways; however the key is to build a fire hot enough to sustain heat and then close off the oxygen supply, so that the wood stops burning and instead chars.The initial results I obtained were a mixture of ash and charcoal. However it was all my Plum Tree, so I drew the tree with the tree. Anything I drew, any mark I made, was a drawing of my Plum Tree. Each drawing contained the molecules of my Plum Tree.

I developed my Plum Tree drawings eventually producing a series of sixteen images. Initially the drawings started as an expression of materiality, the charcoal was the Plum Tree and as a consequence form played no part. The drawings displayed the transformed material of the tree and therefore displayed the being, the presence of the tree. As the series progressed I found that elements of form entered the

drawings. Repeated annular lines appeared akin to the tree’s annual rings. Drawings appeared as transections of the tree trunk and as transections of the tree canopy.

I developed my Plum Tree drawings eventually producing a series of sixteen images. Initially the drawings started as an expression of materiality, the charcoal was the Plum Tree and as a consequence form played no part.

The drawings displayed the transformed material of the tree and therefore displayed the being, the presence of the tree. As the series progressed I found that elements of form entered the drawings. Repeated annular lines appeared akin to the tree’s annual rings. Drawings appeared as transections of the tree trunk and as transections of the tree canopy.