In this work I focus specifically on trees. I walk around them, drive past them, talk about them, draw them, photograph them. Some are lone specimens, some are in groves, or parks, many are in hedgerows. I collect leaves, twigs, bark. I have started to make small sculptures: “Leaves”, is cast in paper, I take impressions in clay of leaves and I make small “insects” from leaves and twigs.
We need trees to give us a sense of proportion. They are living beings in contact with the earth. They are bigger in size than we are and afford us the refuge of their canopy. They screen us from the wind, they provide us cover in rain, and shade against the sun. We are in the shelter of trees and they are our friends. Trees are a long time standing. They watch life go round. They are patient and enduring. In the forest, there is protection in numbers. Trees form a shelter-belt, create an umbrella-roof, a sentinel of wood. It is a community of trees, each helping the others. Leaves fall, become food for the tree and it produces more leaves. Each tree sustains itself and those around it.