The striking monochromacity of silver birch is a natural fit with pen and ink, but I wanted to do something different with it. So I decided to try drawing on wood. I had several 12 by 12 inch squares of plywood – by chance, it…
Continue reading Silver Birch (blue and gold) series
The lofty beech is a common site on the chalk downs of southern England. Its shallow root system clings to the slopes and is often eroded by the elements, revealing a complex lattice. This drawing is a distillation of the many companionable beeches that I…
Continue reading Three Beeches on a Hill
An ancient oak tree, over 400 years old, still marks part of the boundary of Sydmonton Common in north Hampshire. It is an intriguing entity – partially decayed and yet still living (its upper limbs sported green leaves when I first visited the tree in…
Continue reading Sydmonton Common Oak
This drawing takes the same viewpoint that I used for the oil painting Embankment. Both pieces are 40 x 50 cm. The painting was done with a knife, and focuses on the colour; the drawing, done with a fountain pen, focuses on tone and detail.…
Continue reading Embankment (ink)
This third beech tree in Selborne Hanger has a remarkable little cavern beneath its exposed roots, probably due to erosion. The roots form an open lattice – a “filigree” – over the space on the uphill side. The tree is at the foot of the hanger,…
Continue reading Filigree – SOLD
The village of Selborne in Hampshire is known as the former home (now a museum) of the eighteenth century naturalist Gilbert White. It also has a rather splendid beech hanger (a hanger is a wood on a steep slope). I recently spent some lovely time in…
Continue reading Selborne Beech – SOLD
Last Wednesday was warm and dry, perfect weather for sitting on a hill and painting. I decided to find another open access hillside, and settled upon West Woodhay Down – about 12 miles distant, and a place that I had previously walked and sketched but…
Continue reading Harlequin (West Woodhay Down)
This was painted, en plein air, in the last of September’s sunshine. There is a convenient patch of access land on the steep slope of Stubbington Down with a view across the rich farmland of the vale of Kingsclere, looking west towards Beacon Hill and…
Continue reading Vale (of Kingsclere)
Savernake Forest near Marlborough in Wiltshire is a large, privately owned, area of ancient woodland that is open to the public 364 days of the year (the single annual day of closure allows the owners to retain the property). The forest car park is at the…
Continue reading Red and Gold (Savernake)