As a boy I was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by nature both rural and the very natural. From the woodlands and forests to farms, streams and fields. There I learned about our natural world and felt the inspirational emotions that would follow me throughout my life.
From an early frosty morning watching the horses in the top field, freezing mist and warm breath mixing in the cold air...... to the cattle and sheep in various states of being, huddled by the gates in the storm or lounging in the golden sunshine. There is something very English about these scenes, along with Autumn Pheasants, Winter Foxes, Summer rabbits, Spring Hares, the humble Wood pigeon or the cry of the rookery. There is a constant here, an emotion gathered in childhood and beyond that returns to us having never been lost but often remembered and more often felt. Though hard to put into words I feel strongly the black and white of the Freisian, on the colourful background or our rural landscape. That rustic red of a fox in a winter white of frosted grasses and sheep dotting the fields of green. This links to the old masters, the painters of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries where these scenes of the idyll of rural nature remains the same today even though methodology has changed so much the romance still covers our sins. For me....it is the grounding, the return to a time of innocence which I can connect with even as that very innocence is long since dormant. From the inspiration of imagery to a poetic realisation of what is meant by magic and noticing.
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