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 and split by the years but still crowned with an abundance of dark, evergreen foliage. I’ve drawn the tree before (Yew Fantasia and Interior 1), but this picture is more complete; it shows both parts of the trunk and the setting.
I used a selection of “bulletproof” fountain pen inks, for the tree, and watercolour pencil in similar colours for the background. The inks are all made by the small American company Noodler’s Inks, and the term, “bulletproof” indicates that the ink is tamper-proof and more or less permanent on paper; my own tests suggest that all of the inks used have a good lightfastness. The colours are ones that I already had, and I have used them straight from the bottle (without dilution or mixing), in conventional fountain pens. The watercolour pencils are from Faber-Castell’s Albrecht Durer range and are rated as having good (or better) lightfastness.
