Lichen
I am fascinated by lichens – the subtle, and sometimes bright, colours – infinitely varied shapes – the way they grow slowly over years or centuries, stubbornly fixed to rocks or delicately hanging in the branches of trees. Often there are mixed communities of different species – each one a specialist at occupying its own small habitat
Rocks & tors
I grew up in Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire – my playground was the moorland behind our house, a windy place of granite outcrops, bracken and bilberries. Having lived in Exeter for over thirty years, Dartmoor is now my closest territory for walks – it reminds me of my childhood haunts and is always full of surprises – bluebells en masse at Emsworthy Mire, cuckoos in the Becka Brook valley below Houndtor, mists creeping along hillsides, beeches growing out of old stone walls, the craaak of ravens. Countless trips to the Devon coasts, north and south, always yield interesting rock formations. These images crop up in various drawings – in some cases more than once
Trees & others
I am always on the look-out for trees – interesting shapes and characters – and for small things noticed on walks – sometimes picked up and brought back to the studio. The cobwebs were draped over gorse bushes one icy winter morning near Meldon reservoir. Gazing down while walking there is often something to see that beguiles the eye – the arrangement of twigs and stones, a frond of pine blown down in a gale, a pale-fingered clump of dry grass …. and a ghostly pony against dark forest, beech buds and moon
Studio objects
I have collections of organic and rock forms – sometimes the light catches them in a particular way, many of them find their way into drawings
