The glorious common or English oak has become an arboreal icon in central and southern England. Part of our culture and history, the oak tree is also thought to support up to 2,300 different species, making it the most biodiverse of England's native trees.
Growing up in the Kent countryside, oak trees played a significant role in my young life - the big old tree next to the pond where my dad would fish, and under which we would have picnics, among many others.
I really wanted to get a rubbing of one of these ancient trees of my childhood, but the older the tree, the more deep the fissures of the bark, and the harder it was to achieve. In the end I found this lovely specimen at Kew Gardens in London. and despite still being an old tree, I was able to get useable impression. The resulting image is a surprisingly quiet, gentle one, belying it's great majesty and strength.
Find out more about the English oak at the wonderful The Woodland Trust, a UK-based conservation charity working to protect native woodland.
Quercus robur | English oak - Kew Gardens 51 28 37.4N 00 17 35.1W
- Acrylics and original bark rubbing (graphite on paper) transferred to canvas board.40 x 30cm including a 2cm white border.
- The geographical coordinates of the tree from which the rubbing was taken are stamped onto the white border on the front of the artwork.