Woodlands.co.uk - Art & Craft
Hockney, trees and woodlands.
Walking into the David Hockney exhibition at the RA was akin to entering a forest. Like stately trees, the paintings towered above my head, and cohorts of them rallied behind, receding far into the distance. This is not a showing of a series of individual paintings so much as one continuous stream of creative art. With a lifetime’s experience of recording visual images of the world around him, David Hockney has spent the past few years creating a composite image of the Yorkshire landscape.
A great part of the countryside is covered in trees and woodland. He catches the same scene at different seasons, showing not only the seasonal changes of buds breaking and leaves falling, but also the variations of light. These are so striking that it is sometimes hard to believe that he has sat in exactly the same place to paint them. Read more…
Painting woodlands and wildlife – landscape painting pioneers
Relatively recently I experienced “Painting Canada” which was an exhibition of seven landscape painting pioneers who were active in Canada in the 1920s. The paintings are an extraordinary glimpse into the wildness and wilderness of Canada at a time when humans had made very little damaging impact, but actually much of the beauty and wildness that they put onto canvas still exists today in many places.
The group of seven artists are sometimes known as the Algonquin School because they painted some of their best works in the Algonquin national park. They should really have been a group of eight artists except that the artist who most inspired them, Tom Thomson, went missing in a mysterious incident with a canoe by a lake, Read more…
Carving wooden Sculptures with Chainsaws
Nigel Sardeson first realised how useful chainsaws were when he helped to clear fallen trees after the 1987 storm, but he developed an interest in carving with a chainsaw while working for the National Trust at Cliveden – there he decided to carve a few animals around the woods to surprise visitors. Read more…
Seasons: Snow at Wickham Bishops
Photographer Natali Brown continues her photographic woodland diary with some wintry pictures …
With the recent snowfall there was ample opportunity to capture that perfect winter picture and as usual I was out and about visiting the woods in Wickham Bishops. On entering the woods I found myself mesmerised by the silence that surrounded the woods. With the snow gently drifting down covering the woods in a fluffy white blanket, I was struck by a truly spectacular scene. Read more…
Seasons: Autumn Display at Oaters Wood
Photographer Natali Brown introduces us to her wood in the first installment of her stunning photographic diary. These are her first photos taken after “moving in” in the Autumn. More of the wood in snow to come … Read more…
Art in the Woods
Jackie Jeffrey describes the benefits of a woodland environment for inner city children and the art work that has been created in a video presentation for Woodlands TV. Read more…
Pretty as A Picture – A Family Weekend at Nature’s Playground
Jade at Play Action describes a happy Family Weekend, nearly, but not quite, rained off ….
The day has finally come and the jeep is packed full of camping equipment, tools, paint, jars, glue and coloured card. The weather is looking fine, however the phone has been ringing from the crack of dawn with people enquiring if the weekend is still happening. The forecast for Kent has changed to rain! Read more…
“Nature’s Playground” Marchwood Art Project (2008)
I became involved with the project when I answered an advertisement in the Artist News magazine (AN). It was under the heading “Loose Dogs and Loose Artists”. The title intrigued me, so I contacted them and arranged a meeting. After receiving a large page of directions on how to find it, this is how the project began. The first mystery was solved when I arrived at the meeting point, opposite the entrance gate there was a sign that read: “LOOSE DOGS KEEP OUT”. Read more…
