The Battle of The Ancient Oak
A reimagined vintage etching. In the right hand corner is part of Old Nobbley an ancient Essex oak tree, voted one of Englands most charismatic oaks 800 years old .
As usual you have an idea in your mind and it morphed into something different. Largely inspired by seasonal pollen a dead bea found on my window sill and a butterfly given to me by a friend. The cutout panels which i had originally painted proved too busy for this idea, so I removed them all and replaced two to hide the lamp holder inside and soften the light but also to highlight my insects s a lightbox would. There are cutout left for the light to spill back and front. The original cut out pieces were arranged over the holes to give it a more 3d effect. I think it has a really vintage decorative feel, fragile and beautiful...
Using a vintage mannequin, some string, feathers and everything else all found in my studio. Then I added some human eye and that's when the image came to life using digital manipulation for that half dream half reality feel that I love.