Pencils, papers and tree shadows

A tall shape, a bushiness of leaves, 

a broomfull of twigs

the Sketching Trees workshop

Buxton Country Park, July 10th 2021

The elegance of beech trees, the strength of ash, the grace of birch and the richness of hazel: our woods are full of wonders and in this event, we invited visitors to take a bit more time to really look, to get to know our trees. We joined Geoff Chilton, a resident artist from the Green Man Gallery in Buxton who took us through a systematic approach to simplifying the drawing of a tree

The world around us is often inspiring and people often say “O, I wish I could draw/paint/write/whatever, but...”. This workshop, part of the BCA’s Stronger Roots Project, gave people some tools to challenge those “I’m not very good at…” statements.

Geoff encouraged people to look, to look more carefully, not to be swamped by the sheer mass of details in a woodland, but to turn to an individual tree. He introduced us to a language of mark-making, our own language: looking for shapes, shadows, creating suggestions of detail, and that nothing you try is wrong...

(This workshop took place at Buxton Country Park with the trees featured growing in Grin Low Woods that you can walk into from the car park at the Park, while you could also plunge into the subterranean cold of the spectacular Poole's Cavern there)

We wandered into the woods….. and the rest of this post is comments from participants:

Very grounding and enjoyable

Loving the time I spent in the woods

A delightful – all the more so because impromptu and spontaneous activity - providing a rest from physical and mental exertion and an opportunity to sit, observe and enjoy the beauty of trees

I’ve enjoyed very much the idea/the guidance/doing the sketching 

I’m taking away “permission” to sketch for myself

I feel peaceful, connected, happy, relaxed, aware

I now feel more confident to sit and sketch in the woods anytime

I’ve discovered a new area I’d return to visit

Thanks to all our Sketching Trees participants and to Geoff for leading the event so gently

Our next “yes, you can do this!” workshop is on Sunday 18^th, finding inspiration for stories among the trees with award winning playwriter Rob Young: A Blockbuster with Trees

A full list of upcoming Stronger Roots events cna be found on the project's eventbrite page

For families, look out for Woodland Tuesdays that will be running through the summer holidays

Beech glade in Grin Low Woods