I was passing through the New Forest earlier this year, on my way home from delivering work to an open exhibition, and I decided to stop at Forsey Gardens. It was a hot day and the gardens, pleasant though they are, provided relatively little relief…
Continue reading King of the Castle
I made this piece as a rolling demo during Hampshire Open Studios at Sherborne St John, 25-28 August 2023. It is a drawing of part of a grown-out hedge on a low woodbank, looking out of the wood to a wintery field. Every time that…
Continue reading Hedge
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
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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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
The hawthorn tree is in the top corner of a steeply sloped field, right next to a public footpath and the kissing gate that admits walkers. It’s a venerable tree, and I would guess, from its appearance and poistion, that it was once part of…
Continue reading Hawthorn Reverie – SOLD
Ash trees on the steep slope adjacent to a sunken bridlepath that descends from our local chalk ridge. This may be a less dramatic holloway than the chalk-faced thoroughfares in parts of east Hampshire (and elsewhere), but it’s still striking and rather lovely. I wanted…
Continue reading Grip – SOLD