Plein air with handmade Charcoal

I have been invited to show 3 pieces of my golf course artwork at a plein air exhibition at Westland Gallery. The French term plein air means out of doors and refers to the practice of painting entire finished pictures out of doors. My artworks are not really paintings, but rather charcoal drawings that were completed on location. The more interesting part is that I made the charcoal from trees on that very golf course.

Name: Plein Air Group Exhibition 2022 (Various Artists)
Dates: June 7th to June 25, 2022
Live Painting in Wortley Village: Friday, June 17th from 4 - 7 pm and Saturday, June 18th from 9 am to noon

​I read a book called "The Organic Artist" by art instructor Nick Neddo. He covers a lot of techniques and projects including making paper, wild ink, working with soapstone, clay, wood, printmaking, and the list goes on. The book inspires creativity and encourages you to get out into nature. I tried a few projects and then I decided that I would make charcoal. The author recommends willow. The 18th hole at Greenhills Golf Club is lined with willow trees. I started picking up the appropriately sized sticks and went from there. The process infographic is below.

​The charcoal was made last summer. The plein air drawings were completed this month. May 2022 at Greenhills Golf Club.

See more golf course illustrations.