Edge of a Wood

• Original

• Title: Edge of a Wood
• Medium: Oil paint.
• Substrate: 10 oz cotton canvas
• Size: 100cm x 100cm
• Style: Contemporary
• Frame: No
• Prints available: Yes

A painting from David’s Shropshire studio.

Shropshire is a large county in the Welsh Marches, clothed in woodland and cleft by the deep gorges of meandering rivers – the Welsh Dee and the River Severn prominent among them. The Severn flows through the County town of Shrewsbury and often floods the lower part of the town and indeed it’s whole river valley. It’s also famous for the  Severn bore: a tidal bore seen on the tidal reaches of the river. It is formed when the rising tide moves into the funnel-shaped Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary and the surging water forces its way upstream in a series of waves, as far as Gloucester and beyond.

David says: Though this picture is based on an observed scene or scenes, I very much like comunicating the idea of place rather than a particular place. A shared experience: the edge of a wood such as this is something we’ve all enjoyed at one time or another, there’s a shared familiarity – rather like early cave paintings –  a feeling of ‘we understand this don’t we’.  And what joy these simple things can bring to us –  light filtering through Autumn leaves on the woodland’s edges, the sound of birdsong and rustling leaves and the earthy smell of leaf mulch all fill our senses and can give us true moments of happiness so whilst this picture was painted in the Shropshire studio it is based on familiar woodland in both Yorkshire and Shropshire.

Materials used: Michael Harding, Winsor & Newton, Jackson’s Professional oil, rags, sticks, fingers & cheap brushes (I like their unpredictability!)