Cork Oak Stripping; Charcoal on Paper Drawing on location in Portugal.

Live thy Life, Young and old, Like yon oak, Bright in spring, Living gold;Summer-rich Then; and then Autumn-changed Soberer-hued Gold again. The Oak by Alfred Lord Tennyson

All the drawings here, and the others that I have not loaded up to this blog site were done on location in the forest at Montimor O Novo from about 8am until 12noon. Manuel de cas a Branca (who is not only a very good painter but also a brilliant guy with a fantastic family and friends) and I worked non stop for the two mornings. The guys stripping the trunks of cork were great fun and very very very quick at their job, balancing on narrow branches, swinging axes high above the ground . I was in awe watching them.

I've pasted some North American derived information below (cheers guys) about the excercise (only because my Portuguese is poor)

Cork consists of the thick outer bark of the cork oak (Quercus suber). Harvesting cork is the operation of removing bark from the tree during spring or summer. This is the time of year that the tree is engaged in rapid growth. The tender, newly generated cork cells break away from the cambium easily and without damage.
The process is temporarily debilitating but the outer bark quickly regenerates and the tree continues to flourish. Studies show that regular harvesting generally improves the trees health and vigor.Stripping cork is a delicate operation that is performed by hand with traditional tools and methods. Despite periodic attempts, there is no mechanized or automated process that can compare to traditional harvesting techniques.
Harvest difficulties occur if the process is not carried out when the tree is in full growth. As soon as it is evident that the cork is being stripped too early or too late in the season the stripping is brought to a halt, a year's delay in cork extraction is preferred to damage to the tree. The delicate operation of stripping cork has been performed in the same way for decades. Today, cork stripping with a special axe continues to be the quickest and cleanest method available.


Information provided by the Cork Quality Councila non-profit association of selected US wine cork suppliers; 11160 Terrace DrForestville, CA 95436707-887-0141 info@corkqc.com

These guys worked quickly and it was all I could do in the time I had to jot visual notes, charcoal is great for that. It allowed me to work on A3 sheets of paper doing about 40 drawings in succession non stop. (Except when I got lost behind some wall of brambles and cactus and wandered aimlessly till I got my bearings again the forest)

These drawings were undertaken on location in Montemor O Novo. They are a short selection of drawings of a team of Portuguese Cork Oak Workers cutting in the forest.Their job was to strip the bark of the cork Oak without damaging the tree.The men, about 18 in number worked extremely quickly in twos with large axes first cutting into the tree and then stripping the cork outer skin. The number 9 was painted onto the new tree at the end of the process always in the same direction. The bark is only cut once every 10 years or more these trees had last been been cut in 1996. Manuel de Casa Branca a painter who has a great relationship with the Cork Oak had arranged the event and had invited me to work with him drawing and recording this historic and almost timeless sight which has been going on for over a 1000 years. We worked together on location for two mornings from about 8.15 to nearly 12 midday.

I chose charcoal and paper as my medium because like the cork oak they both come from wood resources and both are renewable. Not only that but as importantly the charcoal is lovely when used quickly.