I decided to make a large drawing of the long tree roots in Folly Wood Gorge, using a full imperial sheet of watercolour (approx. 56x75cm) paper and coloured inks. I exagerrated the colours and indulged in a bit of careful splatting (an excuse to add…
Continue reading Folly Wood’s legendary roots (part 2)
When I read that Sidley Wood, an SSSI north of Andover and not very far from me, has “many stands of ancient hornbeam coppice”, I immediately added it to my list of places to visit. There is a footpath running through the length of the…
Continue reading Understories – SOLD
The hamlet of Woodcott seems to consist of a farm and a church, next to one another on a one track road in an obscure corner of north Hampshire. The tiny church of St. James has a rather splendid ancient yew in the churchyard, hollowed…
Continue reading Woodcott
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)
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
The Ankerwycke Yew is, according to tradition, the tree beneath which King John signed the Magna Carta. It certainly could have been – it is old enough and in the right sort of place – but we may never know for sure. It’s a very…
Continue reading Ankerwycke
This yew tree grows on the bank of a small local stream. It’s no ancient giant, but it is a lovely tree nonetheless. Skew indian ink on paper, unmounted (paper 61 x 43 cm) £210
The yew tree portrayed here is on Merrow Down near Guildford, Surrey. It is probably not the largest or the oldest tree at that site (its regularity and lack of visible hollowing suggests a relative youthfulness), but it is, nonetheless, massive. “Behemoth” is a biblical…
Continue reading Behemoth
Yew trees are quite odd trees. They evolved earlier than most of the other familiar British trees – oaks or beeches, say – which suggests that their oddities may be ancient traits that other, more modern trees, didn’t need: aerial roots, branches that take root,…
Continue reading Bestiary (Hollow Yew)
This is an oak tree that stands by the side of the main road as it bypasses the village. It is part of a narrow wood that screens the backs of some houses from the traffic. Judging from its size, I’d guess that it is…
Continue reading Entangled