Art & Culture
ARTIST AT WORK
No.38: Gary Cook, Cloudbreak, ink, watercolour and charcoal, 30 x 20 cm, £695
I
’ve spent the past few years seeing the woods for their trees. Ash and oak and the wildlife dependent on them have been my artistic focus. Oak trees, for example, provide the habitat for around 2,300 species, from bats to beetles and lichens to mammals. I delicately inscribe the names of these animals into my watercolours to highlight the interconnectedness and importance of our woodlands. 6 | Sherborne Times | January 2022
Lately, the luminous quality of the River Stour has drawn my eye. So, I am building a series of paintings celebrating its magnificent 60-mile journey to the English Channel. Capturing its watery reflections is proving an exciting and uplifting challenge. I’ve visited its source, only then registering why the wonderful Stourhead estate is so-called; it marks the spot where the river starts. As it wends through Dorset, many villages are named in its
