Trees Roots and Urban Trees

Trees have always been a favourite subject.

I have painted many paintings of beech trees and their roots, with the light both breaking through them and cast over the complex root patterns that form mysterious natural mazes. I remember jumping over tree roots as a child in Epping Forest, Essex. They held fear and fascination, as they seemed so snake-like and alive.

I have also completed a series of Yew Tree paintings, inspired by a 2000 year-old forest down near Chichester. The Yew is an ancient sacred tree, seen to represent rebirth, destiny, timelessness and eternity. Its link to death and rebirth can be seen in the ability of its drooping branches to root in the ground and form new trunks. So it links to resurrection.

Light is key in my work. It acts to shape and define, also to dissolve and melt. It creates atmosphere and mystery. My work is about a sense of feeling, trying to make visible what is unseen but sensed.