Entwined: The inspiration behind the print.

I am sometimes asked if I have a favourite print, and my mind often returns to this particular work that I made during the very unusual year of 2020.

Restricted in how far we could travel, I began to truly notice the landscape around me. My attention shifted to the smaller details; I became acutely aware of every tree and plant along my morning walk. One in particular captivated me - a solitary tree growing in the field just beyond my home.

This tree was remarkable in the fact that it was not one, but three different trees entwined together. I imagine they once stood as part of a hedgerow long since erased, yet these few trees remained, leaning into one another, twisting and growing as a single, interwoven form. Hawthorn, Blackthorn, and Hazel sharing the same space, each offering its own rhythm to the year: the early white blossom of the Blackthorn making way for the later Hawthorn blossom in May followed by red hawthorn berries and deep blue sloes of Autumn and Winter.

During this time I had been reading about Celtic traditions and beliefs around landscape and had learned that the Celtic people perceived notable trees as an outward manifestation of the spiritual qualities of a place and twisted trees were particularly revered as sacred. I felt a calling to create a print to pay homage to this amazing tree.

Using my sketch I enlarged the drawing onto tracing paper, I felt compelled to work larger than I had done before as I wanted to show the detail of the individual leaves of the tree and communicate its complex twisted nature. I transferred the drawing on to  two large lino blocks and finally a beautifully grainy Ash woodblock, which was to form the trunk and main branches of the tree. I worked on carving the blocks over the next few weeks.

The blocks were too big to run through my etching press so I had to print by hand. This is done by rubbing the reverse of the paper using a disk wrapped in bamboo bark called a baren. I used a lightweight 34gsm Japanese Natural Kozo paper for the print and here is the finished print

Entwined- Linocut and Woodcut- Edition of 10 49.5 x 63.5cm