In my last newsletter I showed you some photographs of the Nomadic Studio on expedition up to the Scottish Highlands. Eventually, I drove South and landed for some 5-ish years in an oak woodland in West Wales. This is where I immersed myself in the woodland environment. It was as beautiful as it was tough. In some ways winter was the nicest time, more light entered as the leafy canopy from the trees fell and snow lightened the ground. In summer it was darker, damper, greener; more intense.
There also lived a timber-framer (my now husband) and a black-smith. They used the woodland to make their work and I wanted to make work ‘of the woodland’ too. Until then I has made paintings from materials foreign to the environment but depicting it. It is here that I discovered that an indelible black ink could be made from oak galls. It has been nick-named Ink of Kings, Poets and Monks, was used to write the Magna Carta and is still used today for official documents…and art. So, this was the beginning of my journey into botanical colour and my new way of working.
In the woodland, at first I continued to work in the Nomadic Studio, but once we had a baby and the space was taken up with family, I bought a box trailer to work in. I also had a new task of collecting oak galls whilst pushing a push-chair (my children now spot them for me).
I thought I’d share some of these magical photos with you.
The Nomadic Studio in the woods, summer.
Trailer studio winter.
The trailer studio at sunrise.
The woodland cathedral.
I plan to make a photo book at some point, of all of my different studios over 24 years, in different phases and projects.