Drawing Trees Canopy

Drawing Trees for Urban Tree Festival 2021

May 18, 2021

I have created two activities for the Urban Tree Festival this year, a video, Zooming In: Drawing Bark, and a workshop, Drawing Trees: An Experimental Approach. For anyone inspired by all things trees, do check out the festival website and its programme of daily events from 15 to 23 May.

Zooming In: Drawing Bark, is a companion video to last year’s Branching Out. This year’s video focuses on zooming in to details of bark and is now available to view on the festival’s YouTube channel. Drawings were kindly created by some of my students to show a range of materials and techniques to help inspire your own drawings of tree bark.

My online workshop, Drawing Trees: An Experimental Approach sold out within a few days, so let me know if you missed out and would be interested in taking part if I run it again. We drew to a series of prompts to find ways to respond to drawing trees from different angles and viewpoints, from varying the speed and rhythm of drawing, to ways of looking and finding marks to express this. Whilst drawing we also noticed how looking at and engaging with trees affects our breathing and emotions, engaging on sensory and imaginative levels to our memories of trees, places and the trees on screen. It was very experimental allowing space to have fun trying different ways to respond to zooming in and out of trees, their bark, branches and foliage, or imagine we are lying on the ground looking up at the tree canopy and sky above us.

A photograph looking up into the tree canopy with background of blue sky and the text, Drawing Trees: An Experimental Approach, with Ruth Broadbent

I’ll post links to any upcoming events or courses I’m doing on social media. Let me know if you’d also like me to email you about them.

Descriptions of both events from the Urban Tree Festival website

Zooming In: Drawing Bark

In this online guided-drawing exercise, we will use simple techniques to inspire a closer look at trees: zooming in to the details of the bark, looking for patterns and textures, and ways to engage with this through drawing. 

Examples of tree bark will be included, but you can also use trees you encounter at home or elsewhere, from photos or from memory. Using basic drawing materials, we’ll create a series of bark squares that you can join together, or share online for a global grid and network of bark images using the hashtags #ZoomingInDrawingBark #UrbanTreeFestival.

Open to all ages and levels of experience, from beginners to those more experienced. If you don’t want to draw, you can create a collage, or use other media, including photography.

This is a companion video to ‘Branching Out‘, created by Ruth Broadbent for the Urban Tree Festival 2020 and still available to watch on our YouTube channel.

 

Drawing Trees: An Experimental Approach

Sunday 16 May 16.00 – 17.00

This is a fun and experimental online workshop looking into different ways to engage with drawing trees, from simple techniques to new ways of looking and thinking about trees, and how we can respond creatively. 

The event is being ticketed by Ruth Broadbent via Eventbrite.

Drawing Trees Branches