Tree Sketch

2008, Papyrus Sketchbook

Ink on hand made paper. 140 x 190mm.

Working in Northamptonshire, cycling up and down the grand union canal every day, I felt connected to the megalithic scale of the canals, and of some of the ancient trees within the surrounding forests. Many of which were over half a millennia old. Imagine being in that one spot, having been stood on that same spot when Captain Cook set sail from Whitby to Australia and not moved since. Gradually growing and then triangulating off towards the sun in every direction (as it moves faster than you can turn to face it!) In their scale, and their resistance to the passing of time, knarling and warping them they can be truly staggering, but then how they flower delicate leaves each year, is quite something.