Day 33: Using charcoal for trees

Scattered around the Barbican are lots of open concrete areas that are softened by strategically placed planters and water features. The result is remarkably effective in breaking up the somewhat brutal architecture and carving out smaller, more intimate public spaces. In one of these I noticed a planter with a young birch tree making its way in the world and for some reason it caught my attention:

Small tree photo

However when it came to put the tree on paper I quickly realised that I didn't know how to do this with pencil alone - the detail felt too fine and the number of leaves overwhelming. Then I remembered that I'd packed some charcoal and, of course, this is quite perfect for creating a suggestion of structure rather than copying reality. So I spent some more time simply looking at how the branches curved and where leaves were filling space (and more importantly where they outlined negative space). With this vision in mind I had a template for putting it all together:

Small tree picture

Looking at the finished sketch again I'm rather pleased with the effect - not so much because it looks just like the actual tree (which it doesn't) but through the way in which it captures an essential "tree-ness". There's just something about how the branches are implied and the nature of the leaf groups. Also as a mental break from line drawing and contours this drawing hits the mark!