New paintings and regular art updates.
A few of trees I drew a couple of years ago. Pencil on paper. It’s nice to find these memories on Facebook. It reminds me of what I was doing then. I wish I was still going out and doing this. I think we had gone out to a National Trust property but have no idea where it was!
The Manifold Way is a cycleway near Waterhouses in Staffordshire, England. It runs along an eight mile stretch of valley and is a path for walking and cycling.
There is a cave up on the hillside, it’s called Thors cave. I walked up once.. Very steep. The valley is wooded and there is a stream running alongside the footpath for some of its length. It has a small tunnel through part of the hillside as it used to be a small narrow gauge railway with only two engines (hubby tells me). It was used for dairy products and passengers. A light railway branch line. We are so lucky to be near to such a beautiful place.
Trees leaning over a lake. Perhaps they will fall if the ground becomes too wet or the wind blows too strongly. With global warming making the weather worse you can see how damage can increase.
Some efforts are being made to reduce the damage. In a few places there has been a reintroduction of beavers to lakes and rivers. It seems strange that an animal that actually fells trees could reduce flooding. But by building lodges (dams woven from tree branches that they live in) beavers slow the flow of water in rivers. The water pools behind them and so less water is released downstream. This can reduce the speed of water rising and so stop flooding.
So in some ways it’s good that the trees have been felled. But I guess the reintroduction has to be in a controlled way.
Mirrored photo from a couple of years ago. I think it looks quite alien. Like a three fingered monolith supporting a world floating above. Maybe a green environment in a space ship. Life held in stasis while the ship ploughs through space, ready to colonise a new planet.
I do like thinking odd thoughts. I clearly am interested in sci-fi. Breath of fresh air, green and powerful.
Buds are bursting
Leaves are appearing
Pigeons are roosting in the rain
The sky’s are grey
Ducks and geese wander
Round Westport Lake.
A gentle walk
Taking in the view
Dampened by the drizzle
Laceworks of twigs
Fill in the gaps
Soon there will be daffodils
Crocuses and tulips
Then May blossom.
March,
In like a lion
Out like a lamb
(or vice versa)
Soon to be revealed…..
When you stand under a tree remember to look up. You might be surprised to see the pattern the branches make and how the leaves don’t always overlap so they can absorb as much light as possible. Spreading out towards the light (phototropism) is where plants bent their stems to move towards the light. Look at the different shaped trees make, depending on the species. Some even have nicknames. Ash trees are supposed to have branches like witches fingers. This was one of my paintings from about twenty years ago.
Multiple image, one tree duplicated. Winter image, steely blue sky. The whiter areas could be teeth, the trees gums? The indentations from the chimneys are also tooth like. The trees could be capillaries or veins. Cold and icy. Lots of thoughts.
I tried adding texture with photodirector to this little drawing I did at Trentham Gardens in 2017. I like the way the rushes stand forward slightly more in the digitally adjusted one. I have a ‘go to’ style in Photodirector, I go to the effects option then generally choose option two or sometimes six. That seems to concentrate and texturise the drawing.
Take a look at me sideways on. I am a sunset with trees and a roof.
Twisted 90° and mirrored. I just caught the glow of the sunset as it fell behind the south west horizon. Another shortening day. In about three weeks we will get even shorter. Midwinter gloom will arrive and then the long climb back to light again. I will have to hibernate!
Pattern made from four duplicated photos of autumn trees. When the leaves fall and disintegrate they get taken down into the soil by worms or are eaten by insects, or lie as a mulch on the soil surface helping keep it warm. Hedgehogs and other small mammals hide underneath them keeping warm and out of the cold wind.
I do wonder if the soil level would gradually build up as leaves fall year after year. Is this what biomass is? It’s funny what you think about trees….
Mallaband-Brown