A woodbank is a linear boundary around or within a wood, marked by a low earthen bank. It’s a feature often associated with ancient woodland, and it’s not uncommon to find trees growing on it. These two trees, an ash and a silver birch, are…
Continue reading Woodbank
This is a drawing, on paper, of half of an ancient churchyard yew which has split into two parts. We’re looking at the hollowed-out inside of the tree, with what looks like several well established aerial roots. The tree is fascinating, with an array fascinating…
Continue reading Interior 1 (Woodcott)
Cyanotype is an “alternative” photographic process. It’s been around since 1842 (see here for the history) and was widely used to reproduce technical drawings. It is the origin of the term “blueprint”, and was one of the aspects that originally drew me to the process.…
Continue reading Experimenting with Cyanotype
This is the third in the “mini-series” of close-ups (Beyond, depicting an ancient oak tree, was the first, followed by Coalesce, which showed an ancient sweet chestnut). This tree isn’t ancient (but it probably got to a decent age for its species, which I think…
Continue reading Echo Chamber
(framed)
Danebury Hill, between Andover and Stockbridge in Hampshire, has featured in my work before (most recently in Deep Dark Wood). It is topped with a significant iron age hill fort, managed by the county council, and is blessed with many lovely trees, most of which…
Continue reading Shaded Path
This is one of my favourite leaning hornbeams, but rather than focussing on the echoing angles of the trees looking down the line (as in Conduit), my attention was drawn to the ravaged remnant of a former tree, the stump in the foreground. The characteristic…
Continue reading Stumped
This beech tree – part of the row along the wood bank at Snelsmore Common that featured in Epic and Babes in the Wood – has an exceptional collection of burrs and galls on it (these are growths caused by stress such as physical damage…
Continue reading Reciprocate
A close-up on the fascinating whorls and twists at the base of an ancient sweet chestnut trunk. When I first started this tree project, I knew that it could be huge, and so I set a limit on it. I would only consider trees that…
Continue reading Coalesce
This drawing includes the same beech trees featured in Epic, in a wider landscape and in a warmer season. While there is still a dramatic air to the picture, it is softer and seems appropriate for a fairy tale. The foreground suggests, to me, the…
Continue reading Babes in the Wood – SOLD