woodland

This new collection has the theme of Woodlands, and was originally inspired by a visit to Oyster Coppice near Donhead St Mary, but which has since expanded to embrace all areas with which the artists feel an affinity. The resulting works are varied in media and theme, with printwork, pastels, oils and acrylic paintings covering all aspects of woodlands taking both broad and close-up viewpoints.

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Jennifer Frazer - The Ceder Trees
Pastel on Paper

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Jenny Frazer - The Cotswold Lake
Pastel on Paper

Seymour park is the area in which Jane Seymour and Henry VIII courted, and is not far from my home. The Cotswold Lake is where I stayed in the Cotswolds for a weekend break in March 2008. Influenced by Degas' pastel work, I proceeded to do pastel drawing inspired by these views.

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Mary Buck- Sunlight & Woodland Walk
Oil on Oak Panels

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Mary Buck - Woodland Floor I & II
Collage

Walking through a Sunlit Wood
Deep in thought and dreams
Wondering if I really should
Follow the path between...
looking down at the woodland floor
Seeing different shapes and colours
Hoping to come across a treasure store
Beneath the canopy of shining light.
Chunch and crackle underfoot
Leaves of browns and greens
What will I find beneath
Between the sunlight beams?

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Penny Crosse
Pastel on paper

To everything - turn, turn, turn.
There is a season - turn, turn, turn.
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

(The Byrds - "Turn, turn, Turn")
(Pete Seeger & Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1–8)

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Kate Skillings - Woodland I & II
Dry point print

" The Enchanted Wood grows very thick trees and if you listen carefully you can hear the dark leaves saying "Wishen, wishen". And in the middle of this wood is the most enchanted tree in the world. A simply enormous tree, the "Magic Faraway Tree........"

Woodland still holds that magic.

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Melissa Brice - Boveridge Woods I, II & III
Photographs

I took these photos on a traditional SLR camera using black and white film on a dull day in the winter in Boveridge Woods near Cranborne in Dorset.

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Ray Brotherton - Regeneration
16" x 10". Pastel on sanded paper

Ray Brotherton - Old Sarum, stripped.
11" x 8". Pastel pencil sketch on sanded paper.
Used as inspiration for "Regeneration"

                "What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow,
                  Out of this stony rubbish?"
                                                    TS Elliot - The Waste Land.

Old Sarum's west side was overgrown with scrub which was recently cleared by English Heritage, much to the outrage of local ecology groups. It looks drab and desolate now, but it's hoped that the cleared land will grow back as grass, more in keeping with the rest of the ancient monument. The clearance has also revealed an aspect of the Cathedral which hasn't been seen for many years.

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Jane Shepherd - Roots
60 x 25 x 3.5 cm. Acrylic and sand on canvas

Inspired by trees overhanging the banks of
an ancient chalk trackway on the side of Zig Zag hill.