Last autumn, I picked up a twig with leaves on it and brought it home because I wasn’t sure what tree it was from. I decided that it was probably some sort of poplar and left it outside the back door. In the spring, I…
Continue reading Skeleton Leaves
This is from Hungers Lane near Petworth in Sussex – the same path featured in Deep Green. The sides are not as steep here. The bluebells were barely out but they still made a cheery impression on me. The trees include a cherry, some field…
Continue reading Bluebell Slope
Morgaston Wood is part of The Vyne estate, a National Trust property near Basingstoke, in Hampshire. It is open to the public and seems to get a lot of dog walkers. The wood itself seems to consist largely of sweet chestnut trees, a handsome, non-native…
Continue reading Morgaston (Sweet Chestnut)
Hornbeams in Hainault Forest. I had time to kill in London, so I took the opportunity to ride the tube to the outer limits of the city (to the north and east, furthest from where I live in Hampshire) and visit a suburban forest. Hainault,…
Continue reading Embrace
This tree is on the bank surrounding the upper car park at Danebury Hill (between Andover and Stockbridge in Hampshire, England). The hill is the site of a large and magificent prehistoric hillfort, but I rather suspect that these earthworks are more recent. 12″ x…
Continue reading Sunsplash
This was the last of my Open Studio drawings (which means that I was working on it in the studio while it was open) in May this year. It is based on a photograph taken in the holloway Mill Lane, a bridlepath near Hawkley in…
Continue reading Claw
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row. The dainty plants that are “all in a row” in front of the main tree brought the quoted nursery rhyme to my mind and…
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When I went to Devizes to deliver my work to the White Chalk Gallery (Open Exhibition) I happened to be in the car park behind the Three Crowns, when Wadworth, a local brewery, were delivering their beer. This was only noteworthy because they were using…
Continue reading Brewer’s Dray
Hungers Lane near Petworth is a sunken lane that was formerly the main road from Chichester to London. It was abandoned when Capability Brown remodelled Petworth Park along with the subsequent relocation of Tillington village in the 1750s and 60s. The National Trust, Where to…
Continue reading Deep Green
These are three small studies of lichen on a twiggy branch that I picked up in the New Forest recently. From left to right, they are Lichen 2 (horizontal), Lichen 3 (square), Lichen 1 (vertical). Lichen 1 was made on an Ampersand Scratchboard, Lichens 2…
Continue reading Lichen Studies