12 | ART
“Trees are essential to us and our world” As we appreciate walks in the local countryside and the freedom of the great outdoors this summer, we take a look at artists’ work inspired by local woods, trees and the stories they tell.
OX MAGAZINE JULY 2020
“I
n this heartbreakingly beautiful spring, my walks to Shotover Hill have been a lifeline,” says Ella Clocksin, artist and art teacher. “Completely hidden away in the woods, well off the beaten track and with only the birds for company, I’ve been drawing and painting. Getting totally absorbed in the deliberate and subliminal decisions in painting can be a way of stilling my mind from the losses and uncertainties of the wider situation. It means noticing, moment by moment, what’s in my field of vision and hearing, and responding on the paper in watercolour, pencil, crayon and more. It’s not synaesthesia. It’s more like when we dance. We hear the music, respond to it and move. I’ve long worked from observation to abstraction, so I’m used to processing what
