Using the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree inventory as a guide, I will be spending the following year investigating trees of significance around the UK as inspiration in my work and to inspire a curiosity in these trees with others. Simultaneously, I’ll be looking at ways to ‘green my practice’ by learning how to make my own botanical inks and pigments as well as by researching various ‘sustainable’ paints already available. This is to not only to challenge environmental issues in contemporary art, but to also physically incorporate the landscape into the works themselves.
DYCP BLOG
Bark Paintings II
More bark paintings- this time made from the pulpy by-product of the oak gall ink-making process. All painted with natural pigment, including oak gall ink. And this lil guy is made from the pulpy oak gall ink-making byproduct mixed with…
Acorn Husks
…But is it pigment? Is it pigment if I say its pigment? It is a satisfyingly sludgy dark matter that spreads by brush. It dries grey on its own- like watching embers turn to ash, or paints a rich black…
Queen Elizabeth I Oak
Yesterday I ventured out to West Sussex to meet an 800 year old (possibly 1,000 year old) sessile oak tree. The Queen Elizabeth I Oak is a large sessile oak in West Sussex, England. It has a girth of 12.5–12.8 metres (41–42 ft), and is about…
Bark paintings
After having a go at making pine cone ink, I saved all the waste material to create some paper/biomaterial forms (and threw in some additional studio remnants.) These were made from coffee filters, pine needle pulp, sawdust and coffee grinds.…
Oak Gall Ink
My first attempt at making oak gall ink. Something I’ve wanted to try for ages. Knowing my parents go on walks nearly every day back home in California, I asked them (half-jokingly) to collect oak galls, acorn caps and wild…