Trees – Page 22 – Frames of Reference

A Rowley Red Apple

A few years ago Lizzie planted an apple tree in the yard at The Rowley Gallery. She would never pick the apples too soon, but always waited patiently until they fell into her open palm. This year, since our tree-of-heaven has gone, the apple tree has come out of the shadows and been quicker to offer its fruits. They’re crisp and juicy with a flavour of melon and raw potato. But what they lack in taste they make up for in appearance and now Karen has captured all their beauty in this delicious watercolour.

Venation

Hanna Tuulikki’s beautiful gestural images from her Dawyck visit speak of the correspondence between humans and trees, long celebrated in folklore and myth.

I found these wonderfully eloquent photographs at Walking With Poets via Hanna Tuulikki’s Diary.
I hope she won’t mind if I share them here. Continue reading “Venation”

Staverton Thicks

In July I posted Elizabethan Oaks about the ancient oak trees of Hatfield Park, which prompted comments recommending Staverton Thicks, a dense, primeval woodland with the oldest oaks in East Anglia. I was intrigued. I’d not heard of it before. Continue reading “Staverton Thicks”

As I Roved Out

Into the woods with Sam Amidon to pick his banjo and holler some crazy music. Could this be Epping Forest or is it Vermont? The album was recorded in the Green Lanes of north London. Sam is playing at LSO St Luke’s tonight, October 26. You might also like to see him At Le Poisson Rouge.

The Man Who Planted Trees

Jean Giono wrote this classic tale in 1953. It tells of a shepherd’s singlehanded reforestation of a desolate valley near Digne-les-Bains in Provence by slowly and devotedly planting acorns. Many who first read it thought it a true story. The author described it as an allegory intended to encourage the planting of trees. This enchanting animated film was made in 1987 by Frédéric Back and it is narrated by Christopher Plummer. Giono’s story may perhaps have influenced Joseph Beuys – 7000 Oaks.

New River, Blue River

Myddleton House was named after Hugh Myddleton who built the New River, an aqueduct carrying fresh water into London. Over the years its course has changed but originally in 1613 it flowed through here, beneath these iron railings marking an earlier bridge. Continue reading “New River, Blue River”

Banstead Wood & Mayfield

In France in early August we’d been too late to see the famous Luberon lavender, but back in England it’s not harvested until September. We went down to Banstead in Surrey to visit Mayfield’s lavender farm. The flowers bloomed in the late August sunshine and the fragrant fields buzzed with intoxicated bees and butterflies and other lavender enthusiasts. Continue reading “Banstead Wood & Mayfield”

Tree Portraits

For the past four years I have been painting portraits of trees in West London woods and nature reserves. The legacy of gardens, parks and woodlands found in London creates an urban environment with an unrivaled relationship to nature that cannot be equaled. Continue reading “Tree Portraits”

Tree Of Heaven (Slight Return)

Early one morning driving to work, lamenting the loss of our tree-of-heaven (it was the morning the tree feller was coming back to poison the shoots that were springing up all over our yard), I began to notice previously overlooked trees-of-heaven by the roadside. I’d not realised there were so many. Now I was seeing them everywhere. It seemed like an epidemic. Continue reading “Tree Of Heaven (Slight Return)”

Tree Of Life

I’ve been reading Lawrence Weschler’s Everything That Rises: A Book Of Convergences. The title comes from Flannery O’Connor’s collection of short stories, Everything That Rises Must Converge. She took her title from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Omega Point which contains the lines: Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge. Continue reading “Tree Of Life”