Woodland Escape

Woods and trees feature a lot in my art.  My Old Railway drawings are abstract trees and represent escape, which at the time was from a lot of things going on in my life (including getting away from art college for a few hours).  While trees mean escape and safety to me, culturally in Northern Europe, trees, woods and forests have been symbols of fear (think of Red Riding Hood/Handsel and Gretel/highway robberies).   My most recent drawing is inspired by one of my favourite places, Beeston castle and woods.  The first time I came here was two weeks before I started teaching in 2002.  I could not relax and felt very anxious about starting my new job (with good reason).  My visit to these woods provided a short respite from the otherwise permanent state of anxiety that I was living 24 hours a day.

Charcoal and coloured pencil drawing (A4), October 2014