There is a minor road in east Hampshire that cuts deep into the bedrock, a route excavated over the years by water and the passge of feet. The stone rises vertically from the edge of the tarmac, and mature trees cling tenaciously to the precipice,…
Continue reading The Dreamer
I’m really rather thrilled to announce that the three works I submitted to the Society of Graphic Fine Art‘s 99th Annual Open Exhibition at Mall Galleries, London were all accepted. The exhibition is scheduled for 6 to 11 July 2021, 10 – 5pm (closing 1pm…
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These hornbeams, planted in two rows along the edge of a local wood, continue to fascinate and inspire me since I discovered them last autumn. Not one of them seems to be upright; each of them is remarkably characterful, and together they make any number…
Continue reading Conduit
Tenacious holly, with its smooth, pale bark, is a great tree for growing interesting shapes; I can see several fantastic beasts in the roots of this tree. But the overall shape puts me in mind of a tentacled sea monster, floating in a sea of…
Continue reading Tentacular – SOLD
Like many trees growing on the steep cliffs and banks of the sunken road, this ash has extended its root system sideways. The sturdiness of those roots and the way that they disappear into fissures in the bedrock is remarkable and tells of adaptability and…
Continue reading Lateral
I love the twist that sweet chestnut develops as it grows: an elegant russet swirl of a tree, here set off beautifully by the cool lines of its silver birch partner. This is a picture that couldn’t not be made: colour and form and movement…
Continue reading Vortex -SOLD
A narrow, single track road, lower than the fields it travels through, has steep, cliff-like sides, taller than a car, taller than a person. In many places, the pale, chalky bedrock is exposed. Trees grow atop these sides and their roots either delve through fissures…
Continue reading Firmament
This multimasted grown-out hedge looms above a sunken road from its farmyard setting. Someone has added a car tyre, and to my eye this is a porthole to the tree’s dream: to sail the high seas! Galleon Indian ink on kaolin-coated board, 16″ x 12″…
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Indian ink on kaolin-coated board, 16″ x 12″ Hornbeams in Sandleford Wood, Greenham Common.
I have recently developed a fondness for the hornbeam, a tree that is native to southern Britain. They don’t seem to be very common on the Hampshire/Berkshire borders, but I have found a few places where they grow. Strangely, nearly every local hornbeam seems to…
Continue reading Hornbeams