Laurel Reflections

Laurel Reflections, originally uploaded by escher....

I wasn't expecting it to have rained overnight but as it hadn't done for quite a while I knew the mixture of warmth, humid air and rain would send my garden into overdrive and mother nature too.

Went thorn hunting in the park again and already it was full up with dog walkers, push chairs and expectant wedding guests at the Ashton memorial.

Whilst heading towards the giant chamelia we found a couple more laurel bushes so I took a twig in case I decided to repeat the theme of yesterday, in anticipation of that company I mentioned yesterday wanting some images.

While we were there two boys came over to us, they were probably 8 or so, and said "there's a dead bird over there."

They looked worried.

"Is it a blackbird?" I said.

"It's black and white" they replied.

I wandered over to have a look at it was a juvenile magpie and it had probably been there a while. I told them that and then said that a fox will probably scavenge it and they shouldn't worry.

"A fox in here?" one of the exclaimed.

"There's only one thing for it" he shouted "run!"

And off they went making a very loud aeroplane noises.

I felt as excitable as they did as the maples had started to reveal new leaves and soon the pallete available to me would be huge.

We went back home and then onto the University campus as I wanted a good stretch of water to experiment with reflections.

Down by the lake a lot of work had been done: the lake had been extended, a station for barbecues replete with hobs, taps and bins has been set up, it looked an effort to reduce the burnt patches on the grass, the scattered beer cans, disposable barbecues and general waste. This intention had only been partially successful and the rubbish was now festooned around the barbecue station. overflowing out of the bins, in the lake and all around that area. The amount of rubbish in and around the lake was a real shocker and I tempted to go down there and clean it up myself but I am sure 20,000 students should be able to organise something! Or perhaps not.

Two groups of ducklings were present, one lot older and twice the size of the other. The youngest group numbered fifteen ducklings and they were the cutest of the cute. Like little motorboats zooming over the water and everytime they went on a excursion the big daddy goose ensured they were protected which was quite interesting to see. Obviously he was not their father but he guarded them wherever they went.

Later a white duck was desperately trying to get its end away with the mallard mother of the older ducklings. He was extremely rampant in his advances and the poor female was extremely distressed. Soon 10 or so mallard males joined in and tried to attack the white male, whilst the ducklings scattered. I could see why the big daddy goose wanted to protect them, they are some unruly characters amongst the coots, chickens, geese and ducks that live on that pond.

Three young lads were checking out the bird life and the eldest threw stones at the ducklings and got a ticking off from me. So he then started throwing them at the three territorial geese that had chased and hissed at me when I arrived (to everyone's amusement), so I thought twice before ticking him off again but of course I did anyway!

They came over to me and asked what I was doing, "making a sculpture" I said.

"What's a sculpture?"

"It is art made out of something like wood or stone or plasticine"

This piece of information was met with more aeroplane noises and running away. I have that effect on most people.

After we had been there a while several more barbecues had been lit, not one of them at the barbecue station and all around the field smoke billowed and individual piles of rubbish grew. But of course as we all know fairies/goblins/imaginary friends etc pick up litter so it is fine to chuck whatever you have wherever you want.

No-one except the aeroplane boys came to see what we were doing, the only visitors were an endless supply of pond scum, lily pads, weed and catkins all of which I didn't want in my shot. Each time I waded back into the water I sunk a little lower into the mud and the water nearly reached the top of my wellies.

But the more I do this, make sculptures and photograph them somewhere especially in public, the more I don't care what people think. That oft quoted Andy Goldsworthy line (that he said when handling ice in sub zero temps) "good art keeps you warm" isn't apt on a warm spring day. I prefer "my art means I don't care whether you think I am a weirdo."

This attitude comes in very handy standing in ponds, retrieving thorns from the middle of bushes and going everywhere with a plastic bag of leaves.

What won't be evident to you in these pictures is what I experienced with reflections. Through photography you pick out a moment in time, captured in an image. That snapshot can be a millisecond or several minutes. The ripples and reflections of the water left me mesmerised, each moment captured within my camera. I've decided to purchase a pair of waders and I think I will spend a lot more time standing in water, fighting off geese and being mesmerised by the water's surface all around me. Now is that weird?!

It wasn't over yet, there was more thing thign of weirdness to encounter. 'The tale of the bumless chicken.'

Whether he had had an accident or was born like I don't know but despite my amusement he wasn't so amused at my attempts to get a blurry shot of his missing bottom! It isn't nice to mock (or photograph) the afflicted! So I left him alone and went home.

Laurel Reflections

Laurel Reflections, originally uploaded by escher....

I took quite a few pictures (several hundred!) and I don't know which I like best.

The top one is backlit so the leaves glow and the sun had gone in when I took the bottom one. I'm erring towards not backlit with this set.

Ducklings, originally uploaded by escher....

Flapping Little Wings, originally uploaded by escher....

Red Green Laurel

Red Green Laurel, originally uploaded by escher....

I don't feel in the mood to write a story right now. But then my partner had it right "it's all part of the cycle of life."

If I had a sense of humour today then I'd probably think that a better title for this would be "Laureal - because you're worth it" but I don't so I won't! 8-)

We were talking about fate the other day and I said that I don't believe in it but I pretend to myself that I do. I don't think things are preordained in our universe but I find my life is full of happy coincidences and I choose to have faith that they happen for a reason. My rational side tells me that these coincidences are a mathmatical certainty that will happen to at least someone. But I find that believing that things are "meant to be" is just another way of engendering the feeling that every cloud has a silver lining, making my life more fulfilling and leaving me with the sense that I'm lucky in life. If you are too busy in your existence to pick up on the connections between events, or are always expecting to be disappointed or let down then many of these happy coincidences will pass you by and you will believe that you are unlucky in life. The opportunity to be lucky is right there in front of you should you wish to take it.

Making land art gives me the space to see these connections and to pick up on the happy concidences, without the time to free my mind I might miss out on them too.

We went to the framers this morning to get some Giclee prints framed up (they look amazing by the way! ;-)). We were chatting about the two orphaned lambs they had, little runts they are (in the literal sense but cute as little lambs inevitably are) and they didn't think they would survive. But a bit bigger at three weeks old with funny little characters and charming to boot, they trotted over to greet us, bleating and thinking we might have a bottle or two for them.

I told him (the framer not the lamb) that I may have some more prints to frame up soon as a company may want some of my pictures for their boardroom. Their company logo incorporates laurel leaves and I said I might make something with them but I didn't know where there were any.

"I'm no gardener" he said, "but I think that those bushes out there are laurel" And surely they were. Another happy coincidence. "take whatever you need" he said. And so I did.

I trotted down to the beck and the sunshine had brought everyone out. The chunky lambs in the field opposite were butting each other and playing harem scarem through the hedge and it was most amusing to watch.

A Japanese student listening to her Ipod came past, she obviously didn't care too much about her hearing as I could still here the tinny percussion when she was 50 yards away sat in a tree. Numerous other dog walkers, parents and toddlers came past including one toddler who needed to use their potty right there and then on the path. When you gotta go you gotta go! But then this is all quite usual on a warm Saturday in April in a fairly well frequented place.

I set up the framed laurel branch just above the water and set about getting the pictures I wanted, splashing about in my wellies as I did so. The wind tore apart my efforts several times but eventually the breeze relented, the sun appeared from behind the wispy, hazy clouds and I was done.

Just next to where I was, across the stream and in the field, a chunky lamb lay down wheezing. All the other sheep had gone up to the top of the field and he was left all alone. I didn't think he looked too well but hoped it was my hyper sensitive nature overblowing what was just a cough.

My spirits dampened, I got home and plugged my camera into the computer but I just had to go back and see what was up with the stricken lamb.

A young mum stood looking while her daughter choked back tears. Sadly the lamb had died, I hope it hadn't suffered too long. Now I do eat meat and I try not to be a hypocrite, I do realise why there are lambs in the fields at all. But being of a sensitive nature, suffering and death and can be all too much if witnessed.

Sensitivity is both a blessing and a curse. You feel the reality of life too starkly sometimes and it fosters a tendency to withdraw in an attempt to lessen the impact of the harsh realities we all encounter. But with it comes opportunities to feel lucky in life and to pick up on every happy coincidence that passes by.

As my partner so eloquently put it: "it is all part of the cycle of life."

Holly Star

Holly Star, originally uploaded by escher....

I'm always saying land art is about the doing and not the viewing of the end result. And you know what I'm dead right!

If you were to pare down land art into only what you need to do then you wouldn't actually make anything at all. The only important part is the wandering, exploring and appreciation of nature. And so my partner and I (her with a bad back and me with a crick in my neck) set off to the park for a slow stroll.

Sunshine and blue skies, the birds a-chirping, and new leaves reaching for the sun. What bliss, despite not being able to look left or upwards and my partner only managing to walk gingerly. But the sweet smell of blossom in your nostrils, the buzz of bees in your ears and the wonder of new growth all around, is all and everything that you could possibly need.

We scooped up dozens and dozens of flame coloured fallen leaves, each one a delight to the senses and many of them met with an exclaim of "wow, would you look at this one!" (I know, but we aren't a danger to the general public, honest). Land art means seeing the world through children's eyes, whether you've lost and regained or always had that ability there is joy to be found in just appreciating the beauty that is all around us. And along with it giving up the necessity to care that you may be making a fool of yourself in other people's eyes and to let loose, be care-free and damn well pick up leaves off the ground while on your hand and knees and in a popular municipal park. Security!

I pondered a change of career and would offer leaf gathering workshops for those looking for tranquility. I would name my organisation 'Bag-o-Leaves' as that it all one needs to reach enlightenment.

"Right crew, welcome to the 'Bag-o-Leaves' workshop. I trust you've all brought a bag? Then we shall begin! The instructions are quite simple - just fill yer bag with leaves!"

I noticed these holly leaves, some of them without spikes, and how they have a white edge lit up by the sun. I took them down to the beck and thought after last weeks shenaningans that this week quick would be ok. A few stalks of grass, a few thorns and hey presto I was done.

I've had a Giclee print done of Traffic Lights for River Traffic, had it framed and it is now on the wall. I think it looks great and gawping at it has reminded me of the day when I made that sculpture and how a passer-by regaled me with his story of his nephew's motorbike. Believe me his anecdote was a cracker and if you haven't heard it you should go and read my retelling ;-) you might learn a thing or two about mopeds.

Wellies on and into the stream I set up the struts so the leaves would catch the sun but first I would need to pull out the half-a-motorbike hidden under the silt. First a headlamp, then an exhaust pipe, assorted bits of plastic, some wire, and some drinks cans. Perhaps the rider had downed a four pack of lager and had careered into the stream right here? I hoped I wasn't going to find bones!

But what did I tell you about appreciating nature? Well unfortunately the human touch seems to be everywhere not all of it artistic! Ho hum. But then again these pieces of moped may have belonged to my passers-by nephew recounted in the Traffic LIghts for River Traffic story, which would make my return to that spot quite apt. Just like my joining of autumn and spring sculptures here I have succeeded in joining two tales of neglected motorbikes. My word, my art is so deep and meaningful, wherever do I get these wonderful concepts from?!

After I finished with this one and now sporting my 'I graduated from the Bag-o-Leaves Academy' badge I took my 'Bag-o-Leaves (registered TM, Copyright Bag-o-Leaves Academy) and decided to make a Dragon for the next kids book and for more how to's on . We're working on the next LandArtforKids book, workshop materials and workshops for kids so I've been making kids sculptures as well as my own, although to the untrained eye (that'll be mine) thre is very little difference.

It gives me an excuse, as if I needed one, to act even more like a kid. Perhaps you should too?!

This was made for the Land Art Connections Project April 2010 - Theme Shadows on 17th April 2010 at Burrow Beck, Lancaster, UK.

Holly Star, originally uploaded by escher....

Come to a Dead Stop

Come to a Dead Stop, originally uploaded by escher....

I haven't had a sculpture turn into a complete nightmare for ages, and this was one big time!

I'll give you the short version as we are home late and I want to relax now!

I had this originally built and set up at about midday but the sun was perpendicular to the circle and the light was hitting the ground behind so I decided to move it to somewhere where the light was better.

Bear in mind that I had already constructed the circle so all that I had to do was locate a spot where there were two parallel trees in the right direction for the sun, find two straightish sticks to go across, pin the circle between them and assemble the bracken stalks, before photographing the end result.

Put it this way, those so called 'easy' tasks took another 6 1/2 hours! The sun had moved right round by that point so the effect I was after was lost anyway. It fell apart countless times. The sticks in the tree fell down countless times and the bracken stalks fell out yet more countless times. I kept losing my thorns amongst the leaf litter and the one and only source for them was right at the other end of the wood. I ended up running everywhere every time I needed new materials!

I am sure anyone who is sane would have given up, but I wasn't going to let it beat me. It was nearly finished so many times that I just had to persevere.

I was originally going to call this "Land of the Rising Sun" (when I had it ready at midday) but that would be quite an ironic title, seeing as the sun was setting all the while. I then thought of "Stop Deer!" but after all the trials and tribulations "Come to a Dead Stop" seemed most apt.

Nighty, night!

Come to a Dead Stop, originally uploaded by escher....

Seedling Sapling Rambling

Seedling Sapling Rambling, originally uploaded by escher....

For those of you who are from the MTV/Look at my shiny IPOD/IPhone/can't spell/can text generation who like instant results and have the attention span of a gnat then:-

This sculpture is made from mud and birch bark and is stuck on a rock. It's of a seedling and is supposed to be marking the arrival of spring, geddit!
And news just in: I was interviewed on the Etsy Blog yesterday.

For everyone else, especially those in the psychiatric profession or anyone with ALOT of spare time, you may carry on and read my insane ramblings below:-


I began the day with a stroll around the park to see what is growing (well I actually it began with peanut butter on toast and taking the recycling boxes down to the sidewalk - hello my stateside friends ;-) - but this is supposed to be about land art after all).

It was almost a year to the day that I made this dandelion sculpture. I noticed the first dandelion flower this last Wednesday and the very next day there were already hundreds in flower. So excited I am about spring that I am desperate to mark its coming (not in a canine way) but although the changes are already immense they are only just beginning. There is some blossom, the beginnings of deciduous leaves, catkins galore, hawthorn in flower, grass beginning to grow, the sap risen in saplings, ground covering plants starting to spread, bees and butterflies and good moods and smiles all round. To wake up to a balmy Saturday, with the weather set fair for the entirety of the weekend, already t-shirt temperatures, no wind and plenty of free time means the spring lover in us all is embued with excitement and expectation.

But despite all these really noticeable changes many of the materials I crave and not with us yet and there is so much more to come. My walk around the park revealed very little in the way of new deciduous leaves from native trees, nearly everything is from hardy shrubs that have been ever-present all winter.

But still the stroll was delightful and the three dogs chasing each other in circles, bums down performing that comedy gallop when they are having rollicking good fun, summed up my mood perfectly. A picked leaf held against shadow whilst the sun pierced it and made it shine, took my breath away just as it does every time I have done that. Something that I will never tire of. And yet despite the fresh air, warmth and promise of spring bringing contentment I hand't found anything that inspired me to mark the coming of spring. Instead I would use the time to explore techniques and materials for something I am proposing to create in someones garden, I would use birch bark and mud. So I set off to return to where I made the Leaf Lightning sculpture, which had now almost disappeared completely and I would create something new to take its place. The designs I'd been mulling over were a deciduous leaf, or new fern tendrils curling out into life. I would follow this theme to mark the coming of spring.

Are you familiar with how rambling thoughts can be? If you've ever read any of my stories, I am sure you are as I quite often write mine down! Are yours the same?

By way of an experiment I will write what follows as though someone was listening in my thoughts. Now this might be enlightening, worrying or very boring or perhaps a combination of more than one. We'll see... If I get a visit from those nice men in the white van with the 'special' jacket then I'll know your reaction...


"Thoughts"



"Wow look at all these red leaves, cool! Uh-oh there's a car coming! I bet they think I'm up to no good. JUst keep your head down, if I want to pick up leaves I shall! I'm not a burglar!"



"Yes I do some fell running too, it's the only way I can be fit enough to carry all this stuff! 'All this stuff' you are hardly carrying anything! Its nothing like the huge pile of stuff I had to carry on that climbing trip to Peru, now that was heavy! I wonder if I'll ever do a mountaineering expedition again? Probably not I am such a wuss! Oh look there are some people over there climbing on boulders, never seen anyone do that here before, funny coincidence seeing as I'm day dreaming about climbing!"


"Ah another coincidence, 'The Curlew' was the first pub I used to drink in when I was fifteen!"


"I wonder if I will make anything today or just sit on a rock? I don't really want to today, but then I always think that, I really can't be bothered..."


"Hmm what shall I do? None of these boulders seem suitable. Shall I just go home? Where I made Leaf Lightning is not the right shape, I'll have to find somewhere else."


"Cool, would you look at that lovely, filthy dark wet mud, perfection!"


"The sun is a bit strong I reckon I'll burn, best put my jacket on and pull up the hood, it's the only protection I've got. I wonder what we'll have for tea tonight? I wonder what the time is? Shall I eat my sandwiches now? Oh look a bumble bee has landed on my jacket. I wonder if it likes the blue colour? I wonder how the bee sees it? I wonder if the colour is the same as a particular flower? Wow that emerald green butterfly is beautiful and its crawling in my camera bag. I wonder what it likes in there?"


"So come on what are you going to make? It'll be rubbish anyway, why bother? It's silly to judge the success of a sculpture by how many comments you get on Flickr, you do this because you enjoy it. But I do like to get feedback. Well you should get on with it anyway, so what if it is rubbish, don't post it on Flickr then! I'm sure I've run out of ideas anyway, I had all the best ones last year, now I'm just repeating myself. What if my new ideas are rubbish?"


"Oh look another bee! What is it about this blue?"


"Yep, definitely going to look rubbish. Maybe just try this as an experiment and then do something better somewhere else?"


"Ah a ladybird!"


"Hmm, quite liking it now, but I should've done it higher up, that crack is spoiling it, the balance is wrong, the circles of bark do add something but this still going to be a bit substandard."


"Yes that's looking better, but how many leaves shall I add? Hmm I don't like even numbers. But why don't you like even numbers, what does it matter? I don't know, odd numbers just seem to work! How many then 5, 7, 9? I don't know, stop asking me stupid questions!"

This is the way it goes with just about everything I make. Self doubt is in control until three-quarters of the way through where I suddenly find myself liking what I see despite my psyche wishing the contrary.

I don't know why this is or indeed how the creative process evntually leads me from one to the other and whether the self doubt actaully means that I try harder to create something pleasing. This seems odd as the self doubting voice is encouraging my to give up the whole time, not to try harder.

It seems the voices in my head, the internal dialogue never stops (perhaps
that is how it is for everyone except for hardcore meditators) and what it is saying influences strongly how I feel and what I am able to do.

This must be a big reason why I am now drawn to create as despite my internal dialogues strongest intentions to hold me back and make me give up at whatever I am doing, the sculptures I create provide me with clear direction that it is worthwhile to persist.


"Wow, look at that Peregrine falcon! It's going for that bird, poor thing! It's missed what a relief! But then what will the Falcon eat?"


"Bugger what's going on here?! Ah they're next door, phew!"

Please tune in next week for more unadulterated ramblings.

Seedling Sapling Rambling, originally uploaded by escher....

Seedling Sapling Rambling, originally uploaded by escher....

Interviewed on the Etsy Blog

Colour Leaf Sun Star, originally uploaded by escher....

I was interviewed on the Etsy blog yesterday. Good to see land art in the spotlight"! (Oh and me too ;-)) It is here if you want to take look.

Totem for Spring

Totem for Spring, originally uploaded by escher....

We went back to Middlewood in Roeburndale today (not Bottom Wood or Top Wood
but the one in the middle, obviously) for the first time since mid autumn. The wood
drops deeply into a gorge cut by the river and with the trees still without leaf, we could see right through the dense woodland to the other side.

We visited for the first time late last summer and so we hadn't seen the trees without leaves and the atmosphere was very different. But like a coiled spring the new season is champing at the bit to get growing, and the first signs of it were thinly carpeting the forest floor.

New buds adorned the branches and small green shoots of forest floor plants were starting to peep through the leaf litter. As we approached the river we could see the rich green of wild garlic covering the opposite bank.

Wild garlic is one of the first things to grow in spring and whilst the canopy is skeletal they take full advantage, quickly covering every space and filling the air with its distinctive, pungent aroma.

For a few years I have wanted to make something with fresh and new garlic leaves but hadn't gotten around to it. But today should be the day. I crossed the river, carefully as it was slippery and also because falling in is embarrassing when someone is watching, to collect garlic leaves as they were very few on this side.

I made a ball of mud and planned to cover it with the leaves. They have a gentle curve and I thought they lent themselves well to make a sphere. But in order to take advantage of the curved shape the ball would need to be quite large, unfortunately, though, once a mud ball gets over a certain size it begins to sag and become misshapen. I would need to think of something else. I tried sticking brown leaves to the ball but that just seemed to be doing something for the sake of it.

The whole plan of what I wanted to depict was the beginning of spring and how the very first shoots of green were just coming and I wanted to mark the day, and the beginning of the season with a sculpture that connected with these new signs of life.

My train of thought had left the station and on its way it showed me some aspects of the cycle of life. Just under the leaf litter the earth is black where the leaves had broken down into a rich soil. It was this that those new plants were feasting on as they strained upwards towards the sun. The fallen leaves of past autumns had decayed to become the food for new life. So the three materials I had looked at already: fresh, green wild garlic leaves; brown, dessicated beech leaves and the dark, dank mud of decayed leaves seemed to me to be all connected. All stages in the cycle of life as one thing thrives and dies and becomes sustenance for the next.

So I thought I would make something that brought these three things together to mark the start of spring.

I went looking for a flat rock and found the stone that I made the Wych Elm Leaf Colour sculpture on, and despite it being a really good slab of rock it would be apt in more ways too.

That autumn sculpture was all about the end of the deciduous cycle and how the leaves fade and decay and return back to the earth. I made it the last time I was at Middlewood and so now I would show the energy coming from those decayed leaves and the start of spring. The two sculptures, even though they are many months apart are intimately connected, both physically and in concept. Just like autumn and spring in reality are.

I erected the slab upright, with a little bit of a struggle (It's about four foot high) and set about smearing it with mud from the woodland floor. I chose deeper earth that isn't as dark and then placed the fresh garlic leaves at the top, last autumn's beech leaves in the middle and finally a black, bracken root at the bottom. I sealed them all in with the darkest earth I could find, which was in a very thin layer between the decaying leaves and the lighter soil beneath. The richest, darkest soli, that which the garlic was feeding upon.

I decided to resuse my Leaf Lightning design as it occurred to me that it alluded to the fading autumn leaves returning to the earth (although I hadn't considered that symbolism at the time I made it) and now the flow of energy in this symbol will be in reverse as the root draws energy from the dark earth to create new life, seeking sustanence from the sun.

Just as each season leads to the next, the end of one cycle signals the beginning of another. Life and death are intimately connected.

My two last trips to Middlewood and the sculptures I made are intricately intertwined just as we and all life are intertwined with all the processes of mother nature.

I didn't go out with these concepts in my head, nor with any plan of depicting them. I feel sometimes that if you have to explain the concept then maybe you are missing the point. But, today, these are the things that I discovered and thought about as I worked. And I am grateful that I am given the opportunities to uncover these wonders.

I am always saying that land art is about the doing. By making sculptures the door is left ajar so that one may see more clearly into the wonder of nature, her cycles and processes. You are presented with an opporunity to discover how we fit and sit within those cycles and processes, how they change us and make us what we are.

Through this I am able to foster a closer relationship with Mother nature and with myself.

Totem for Spring, originally uploaded by escher....

Zebra Stick Joins the Dots

Zebra Stick Joins the Dots, originally uploaded by escher....

There is nothing wrong with brown part 3 or 'the stroppy woman in the orange jacket' or 'where has the sun gone?' Or 'can I be bothered to write anything?' Or 'the revenge of the zebra stick.'

Back to the wood again today, similar to yesterday but even breezier. The wind that is not the wood.

I was digging up some dark earth by the stream when someone shouted at me from the road. A cyclist was wondering what I was doing there, must have been a friend of the land owner. I tried to shout back that I had permission to be there, I don't know whether he heard me but he waved and cycled on.

The idea for this popped into my head and I was away, up to my elbows in mud and singing to myself. First the three blobs on the left, bottom one first then the three on the right. Uh-oh, minor hitch. The tree on the right is mossy and the mud doesn't want to stick, at least not to the bark. Each time I pulled my hand away the splat-pat came away with it. Still I perservered willing it to stick and eventually it did.

I carefully selected some complete leaves and then peeled the bark from the joining stick and finally it was finished, all I needed to do now was to take its photograph and for that I needed some dappled sunlight to bring out the colours.

This was how it had been all morning. The sun kept coming and going from behind the drifting clouds casting shadows across the woodland as there was no capony to prevent it piercing to the forest floor. And so I stood, poised, next to my camera, remote clasped in my hand, waiting for the sun to reappear. And I waited. And waited.

This didn't look good.

Slowly the sky began to brighten but only because the cloud was thinning, there weren't any breaks.

I peered through the viewfinder making sure everything was set up right and continued to wait.

And then?!

An orange streak appeared across the background of what I could see. Was this the sunlight that I anticipated so? No it was my partner in her arctic jacket positioned slap-bang in the middle of the frame, beginning to make something.

I dashed over to her and before I could say anything a bottom lip was pushed in my direction followed by a thrown pile of thorns.

"Grrr, my triangles keep spinning around!"

"Can I move you over a little bit please dear, you are in my shot?" I replied.

"Land art is so stupid, why is it so windy!!!"

I understand completely how unruly triangles of bark, obsessed with spinning in the wind can get right on your nerves but I had more pressing concerns that involved clouds and the sun.

I dashed back to my camera and waited once again.

And then?!

The sun broke through and long shadows appeared again and as if by magic, (imagine someone pressing the detonator on quarry explosives) as I pressed the shutter release the zebra stick fell out of the tree!

And you'll never guess where the sun went!

So I waited some more.

After more than an hour I feared that this might be it. There were no breaks in the cloud and it looked even darker behind.

I started to pack up and then it began to rain. I could hear it on the leaves but for some reason not feel it. If the rain has come now then that surely must be it, but as Fleetwood Mac would have you believe 'thunder only happens when it's raining' but as soon as the ground got wet, the clouds cleared and the sun shone!

So I walked back to the car with the stroppy woman in the orange jacket, happy enough that the sun had shone in the nick of time.

There is joy to be had in the knowledge that nature rules our lives, makes us what we are and that she is constantly changing. In our futile attempts to control her we miss the essential rhythms that make us what we are, that affect everything, everywhere and for always.

Spending an hour waiting for the sun to come out from behind a cloud is never wasted time as within each moment there are an infinity of discoveries to be made. I wasn't impatient and I didn't know if the sun would ever appear. That is what I love about land art. Nature is what it is and if it rains and spoils your sculpture then so be it. It is all about experiencing nature as it really is.

Whilst I waited with camera remote in hand I saw a wren loudly calling as it flew in and out of the rotting wood looking for tasty morsels on which to feed, I heard the shrill cry of the buzzard, and a owl somewhere off in the distance, I heard the percussion of the rain onto crisp, bleached winter leaves all before the wind whipped them up into an upside down snow-storm of swirling flakes until they dropped to the ground once again.

It just goes to show, you never know what is around the next corner, what will happen in the next minute. If you take the time to see, to feel the ebb and flow and rhythms of nature then there is so much more going on than one person can experience in a lifetime. And with so many opportunities for peace and tranquility and stillness, just there should we wish to grab them, it is a wonder that so many of us fail to latch onto them , especially when we need those moments the most.

Despite attempts at profundities with this sculpture I am left with images of the symbol of the scouting movement. Fleurs-de-lys anyone?!

I am also left with the feeling that my titles are becoming evermore wacky, zebra stick indeed!

Zebra Stick Joins the Dots, originally uploaded by escher....

Zebra Stick Joins the Dots, originally uploaded by escher....

Oak Apple DNA

Oak Apple DNA, originally uploaded by escher....

There is nothing wrong with brown part 2 (or the tale of the missing lunchbox lid).

I took another trip today to the woodland that we first visited last week. It was cool, fresh and breezy with drifting cloud and patches of warm sunshine. A fine day for some land art.

I've been trying to take the pressure off myself (self-imposed pressure) as I think my creative juices would flow better that way. I decided that I would just go along and see what happened, if I made something then great, if not then I would just explore and soak up the ambience. If I made something I would not definitely post it here, but if it felt right I would. For a while I've felt duty bound to make something and to post it at every opportunity. That isn't the way to go about it and I think the quality of work has suffered as a result.

After a very dry winter it has rained a lot in the last few days, it was wet underfoot and I was confronted by a sea of brown once again. Not inspired I relaxed and sat on a tree stump and munched on an juicy apple then went for a wander around the perimeter.

New born lambs, black socks and black faces, were up to mischief: skipping and chasing their siblings before realising mum had moved away. Bleating in panic they rushed around until finally wriggling tails signified the comfort of mother's milk. The high pitched call of a buzzard pierced the air, a large notch in its wing made its circling less efficient than it might be. I was enjoying myself listening to the song of the chaffinches, the breeze blowing through the wood and the dappled sunlight casting patterns on the leaves on the floor. Time seemed to have stopped and I could exist here forever.

It's from this peace of mind that the inspiration comes and the ability to see what is there in that environment more deeply and succintly.

Amongst the brown and bleached leaves on the ground I would occasionally find an oak apple 'a mutation of an oak leaf caused by chemicals injected by the larva of certain kinds of gall wasp' which grows inside the ball. I thought at the very least, whether I would end up making something or not) I would search for oak apples as that search would present me with the opportunity of learning about that place by concentrating on a task like this. If you've never tried it give it a go. It's like meditating and as you search you begin to see more and more that bypassed you before, it is with this that land art begins.

At this point I was finding an oak apple once every five minutes and at this rate it would take hours to find enough to make something with them but then under one particular tree I found dozens and dozens so I collected all that I could.

When I want to learn about a place I will only use what I find there and often will avoid using any tools too. And so it was today.

Many of the oak apples had a little hole in them, presumably where the wasp larva emerged so I joined them together with hawthorns so they resembled little dumbells. I was reminded of models of molecules I saw at school with red and blue balls joined together by match-stick like struts.

So I made some more, noticing how some were dark and some light so I made them into dark/light pairs.

And then I noticed the rotting log, which was next to where I was sat, that I was using as a shelf to store the dumbells and it seemed compliment the oak apples, I was then set on arranging them along a log, resembling a chain molecule or a spine. I thought that I must be able to find a better log on which to place the apples, it would be a total fluke that the first one would be the best but after 15 minutes of searching it became obvious that it was indeed the
best one.

This is so often exactly how it is. Some sculptures are a struggle and a fight and some seem to make themselves with little of my own volition involved. The larval holes were perfect to join the apples, how I placed them on the log whilst making them turned out to be a pleasing enough design so with very little effort it seemed to just come together. Perhaps the time spent freeing up my mind from the stresses of the working week is where this all comes from?

I found a small pool full with dark brown leaves. The bleached leaves I was so taken with last week seemed perfect for a frame for the long so I collected inatct ones and placed them on top of the brown before arranging the other items.

Sometimes it is easier when you don't try.

And what of the lunchbox lid? When I made the oak apple dumbells I carried them over to the pool on the lid of my lunchbox before walking back to my base camp to finish eating my lunch. After five minutes I gathered up my gear but where was my lunchbox lid? Had it blown away? I just couldn't work it out. It was only when I carried all my stuff over towards the pool that I saw the lid sat there with dumbells gathered on top.

So my art may appear from within me when I am relaxed and at one with my surroundings but it seems that I need a helper to help me tie my shoelaces, remember where I live, wipe my bottom and generally to keep my **** together!

Although I think my partner may retort that I am like that all the time whether I am relaxed, making art or not!

Oak Apple DNA, originally uploaded by escher....

Winter Beech Leaf Gradient (There's Nothing Wrong with Brown)

Winter Beech Leaf Gradient (There's Nothing Wrong with Brown), originally uploaded by escher...taking a long break.

There is nothing wrong with brown.

I received an email the other day with a very kind offer to be allowed to make land art in someones woodland. In order to make sure that you don't organise an illegal rave there, I shall not tell you who owns it or where it is.

So we went to visit it today, not really expecting to make anything as spring hasn't quite sprung yet. And as I keep saying to everyone who'll listen: "I am a bit fed up of just brown and ever-green, all there is is dead wood, stone and fallen leaves."

Now this was definitely a case of not looking hard enough, or indeed not looking in the right way.

As we were being shown around the wood my overriding feeling was of peace and tranquility. I felt especially relaxed and un-get-at-able there and I am sure it had nothing to do with the jar of Valium I had guzzled beforehand. I've seen Deliverance and I am always suspicious of invites to woods in the middle of nowhere by strangers so I thought I'd best be prepared for a shock.

But seriously, despite the cacophony of shotguns being fired across the field and the sound of banjos being duelled, I did feel contented and relaxed and perhaps my eyes were to open in the right way.

Where before I had just seen brown, black and grey now I saw every hue of brown one could imagine, muted shades right through to black. The leaves on the ground had not rotted away as it had been drier than usual this winter and colder too so perhaps they had been prevented from rotting by a covering of snow, frozen ground and frost.

Many of the leaves were bleached from the sun and where they overlapped with another, they would be much darker underneath. This picture doesn't show how white they were as it rained lightly and stained the white leaves darker.

I took sections of the beech leaves and pinned them onto a slab of bark, sealing the edges with strips of more bark pinned with thorns before displaying them on the rotten and black, fallen tree.

I came away with two overriding feelings today. One of peace and relaxation and the pleasure of the generosity of someone who is happy to share their peaceful idyll with others that would appreciate it just like they do. It would be so easy to erect 'keep out' and 'strictly private' signs all around this wood (and this world) but it would not be a place where peace would be found by the trespassers or the owners alike. Generosity helps both parties either side of the gift and for that I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for being on the receiving end.

And secondly I came away with a feeling of joy in what Andy Goldsworthy has given to me. This sculpture is an homage to him and his vision which has allowed me to peel back the layers of nature too and find what is hidden beneath. Unequivocally the fade of found, natural colours is from the vision of Goldsworthy but I have taken it and seen it through my own eyes and I will not apologise for that.

For those who are generous of spirit will appreciate things for what they are whereas the ungenerous will seek to exorcise their own demons through criticising what others do while singularly faling to ever take a look at themselves.

If land art is about anything it is about the time spent doing it, just being in a place, taking the time to be and being at peace with yourself and with nature.

If that is how you really feel then why would you not want to share this with everyone you can?

A gift made will payback tenfold and this is true in so many aspects life.

Winter Beech Leaf Gradient (There's nothing wrong with brown), originally uploaded by escher...taking a long break.

...The End Leads to the Beginning

...The End Leads to the Beginning, originally uploaded by escher...taking a long break.

So it was earlier this week that I posted this and I was quite taken aback by the heartfelt responses.

Being a hyper-sensitive person can be quite overwhelming at times. I felt like I had backed myself into a corner and was living out (not literally!) that common dream of standing naked in front of hundreds of people. Sensitivity can often be a gift, having your senses permanently turned up to 11 can be wonderful but when they get out of kilter it can be extremely stressful.

Land art and hill walking are my solace, my place to escape from the noise of the world and the noise inside my head. To feel nature close up and to let the beauty and wonder fill your senses and mind, there is nothing else that comes close.

And yet my art ceased to become my solace, I struggled with it and found no peace. Self-imposed pressure meant that my creativity dried up and with it the space to be and to think. My art did not flow out of me like it once did and I lost my ability to escape. The search for peace and solitude came first and my art appeared out of that. It doesn't work to try and find peace through forcing myself to create. It needs to be the other way around.

And so all of this came to a head when the abusive emails started to arrive and those were the final straw. I felt completely raw and exposed to anything and everything anyone had to say with no place to escape.

So I went for a walk. And another. And another. And another...

The fog was starting to clear.

So today I went out to create something with no intention of sharing it with anyone. Perhaps someone will chance upon it whilst walking and it will brighten their day. Making it brightened mine and I felt relieved to have found an escape again, to make something only for fun and because I want to.

I think I will need to this for a while to find my inner voice once again, but I will surely be back and firing on all cylinders again.

I don't think I will ever grow a thicker skin, I have always been this way and I expect I will always take criticism badly but I wouldn't change my sensitivty for the world as it presents me with many great gifts on so many occasions even if it can be a bind at other times.

Ironically, after the ****storm on Reddit and the resultant nasty emails my stats went through the roof. But weirdly it had nothing to do with the picture that made it on to Reddit.com. Completely coincidentally a Korean website posted my 'Stack'' and 'Balance' sets the day after and since then I have had 40,000 hits one day and 16,000 the two days following. The Equilibrium Stack then made it onto Reddit and the comments are much more kind: "I'll bet he uses glue" and "Nah, they are really easy to make - it's not proper rock balancing." I can cope with that, not so happy being called a ***** as I was on the other one but being called Andy Bronzeworthy did raise a smile!

This morning on the news they said that this spring is going to be a belter. Due to the very cold weather we have had everything is going to sprout at once. The daffodils are late, crocusses are just starting to appear and it seems we may see everything coming to life at once.

This episode, then, will hopefully be just a blip (like all my 'episodes') as I get lost in the majesty of spring and find myself by losing myself once again.

I also hope that I can't start writing something funny again, I am sure you are wishing that too!

Heartbeat of the Hardy Palm

Heartbeat of the Hardy Palm, originally uploaded by ...escher....

What did Andy Goldsworthy once say?

"Good art keeps you warm."

Well this must be rubbish as I was bloody freezing! No, it's a thick jacket and the sun that keeps you warm, neither of which were helping me out. One being in the wardrobe and the other behind a thick blanket of cloud.

If it were true I'd spend my heating allowance on a nice framed picture, "throw another log on the Picasso will you dear?"

A year ago I bought a dilapidated hardy palm that needed some TLC. That TLC consisted of planting it in a big pot with fresh compost and keeping it watered. This was all it needed to take on the pretensions and proportions of a triffid with thick lustrous leaves.

Over the winter some of them had bent and would eventually wither. I had had in mind for a while removing a leaf or two and making something with them before they withered.

I was going to cut out a square zig-zag pattern along its length but I soon discovered that this would be difficult or impossible. The leaves are very fibrous with a distinct grain that follows along the leaf meaning that it splits easily along the grain but not against it.

So once again the material itself played its part in what I was able to make. Each leaf was split at the end like a forked tongue and I tore from the end and it split right in two all the way down the leaf following a single grain all the way. I split three more lines within and used cut sections of leaf to weave in between the splits.

I had missed this about land art. Not since the snow sculptures a few months ago had I had the opportunity to learn about new materials and through that exploration and learning process create something that followed the properties and structure of each material. The state of the snow on each different day dictated what I could do with it but even more the sculpture emerged from the experience of learning about the materials themselves as I touched them, played with them and tried to make different things.

And so it was with these palm leaves. I learnt about the grain and structure of the leaves, the growth pattern and how each cell lays next to another. Pun not intended - I always try to follow the grain of the material I am exploring so I am using its inherent properties and not going against them. The idea is to experience and learn about each plant, each medium, each place and making something is just the way I do that.

The sun hung just above a big bank of cloud and the original idea was to show off the grid pattern of the woven leaves but alas the sun soon dropped behind the thick clag and did not return again.

As I carried each leaf to a wood to hang them between two trees one of them became messed up and the woven sections went out of place. I had originally arranged them so they were parallel but now it made a wave. The accidental sculptor had made a more pleasing design than I could so I went with that instead and rearranged the other two too.
As I sat and waited for the sun the brisk North-easterly got colder and colder and I knew I might be out of luck today. The only shot I might get would be a silhouette against the sun. I looked for another tree on the edge of the wood where the only background would be the sky but I discovered that the trees on the edge had many more branches that were not at all suitable to what I had in mind so I surmised that the trees that did not fight for the sun grew leaves all over and did not have some branches with gaps like I needed, like the ones deep inside the wood.

The photo of the sculpture is not all I wanted it to be. I felt reluctant to post this but the photo is only a small part of my land art. The experience and discoveries I make are all the more important and today there were many and as such I feel duty bound to share.

If only to tell you to take a coat out with you and not an oil paiting.

But if I was to search for any symbolism that I sense with this sculpture it would be the energy of growth. I very rarely make something with a concept in mind but sometimes they make me think of something afterwards or while I am waiting to take its photograph.

I noticed today two of my plants in the garden have sprouted new shoots an inch from the ground, in amongst the dead and withered remnants of their life last year. This week I too have felt new life from within (I'm not pregnant :-)), the lengthening of the days and the change of the season has filled me with vigour and optimism for the rest of the year. I have emerged from the doldrums of the long winter months.

So if I was looking for that concept it would be the emerging of that long stored energy of nature, held deep in the roots of the earth as a new cycle begins.

Perhaps you feel it too?

Grass Flower Doodles

Grass Flower Doodles, originally uploaded by ...escher....

I'm hoping that the arrival of spring will kick start my ability to be inspired. Land art hasn't been all that I have wanted to do recently when it was that way for all of last year. I've been able to work from home quite a lot over the last few months and I wonder if being away from an office environment has reduced my craving to seek the solace of the outdoors which drove my need to create.

This has left me in a bit of a quandry. I've not been driven to go out and make something, in a way I could take it or leave it but this has left me feeling that I want to have that drive, once again, to make something. There is safety in being driven, as the need to do something is all you require to get out there and do it. But when you have to choose and there are many different things you like doing it makes you question why you should do it at all. I feel my land art has become part of my person and defines me as a person too. So where am I left if I don't want to do any?

I normally start by just opening my eyes and seeing what inspires me - a leaf, a rock, a place - but the sparks are few and far between. I am intrigued to discover whether the season of new growth, which is nearly upon us, will once again ignite ideas in my mind.

I guess it is not surprising after such an intense and prolific year of creating, that I find myself where I am today on the cusp of another spring ready to begin anew. Will I have to try harder to make new discoveries or will a year of peeling back the layers of nature mean that I can start from where I left off? I don't know the answer but art is nothing if it isn't a voyage of discovery. Sometimes you are in control and sometimes you are a passenger. At the moment Mother Nature is at the helm and I long to see what she can show me.

This morning I thought I ought to go out and do something even if I come back empty handed. So I headed off towards the Trough of Bowland to balance some rocks. All I took with me was my camera, I hadn't brought lunch, any thorns or suitable footwear. Lacking in passion means I set off disorganised.

As I headed towards the hills I was surprised to find how much overnight snow had fallen. Clougha had a hat of white and the sky was blue and bright. Despite the wintry coat, the light definitely felt spring like.

As I dropped over the saddle into the valley the surrounding hills were all snowy and it was the first time I had seen such extensive snow up there, it was beautiful and breathtaking but was soon to thaw. A bird dashed out of the hedgerow and flew at bonnet height only a metre in front of the headlights. The wingshape was unmistakably falcon, the wingspan small and compact, it had to be a Merlin. It soon glided away from the road and into the adjacent field. Close up encounters with wildlife always leave me excited and this week has been a good one. Mid week we were treated to a pair of boxing Hares who, completely oblivious to our presence so wrapped up in their fighting as they were, ran right in front of us at Cockersands rewarding us with a magnificent display of typical behaviour.

As I drove into the Trough it got snowier and snowier and the road became slushier and more slippery. As I wasn't expecting snow I turned around from my original destination thinking that a crash into a stone wall would ruin my day and headed back to have a look around the banks next to the river Wyre.

In the field opposite several people were exercising fox hounds. All I could hear was excited barking and a hunters horn being repeatedly blasted. I am not sure why it was necessary to make quite such a racket but I did chuckle when all the hounds disappeared off for an hour and no amount of tooting and calling brought them back to heel. They came back when they were ready and that meant there was more peace and quiet to be had.

The North West Air Ambulance flew over several times, very low and they seemed to be searching for something. I hope that there had not been an accident and they were just looking for landmarks to follow.

I was having difficulty concentrating and choppers and canines weren't helping. My unsuitable footwear was sodden, the snow quickly thawing and my brain was full of nothing so I started just doodling to see what would happen, thinking that one idea might lead to another.

First I made a little symbol, like the equilibrium stack and I thought it looked like a calling card and I imagined what it would be like to leave a version of this next to anything I had made, like a signature if you will.

Some weird tendril like branches hung from a fir tree. I liked the bulges and nodules that adorned it so I took some and wove them into a circle. I placed a sycamore leaf within and immediately thought of the Canadian flag which must have seeped into my unconcious what with the Winter Olympics and all.

Next the endless knot came to me once again and I wondered how I could make one. The round grass all around there would be suitable but how would I shape it without thorns? I checked in my camera bag and found a leaf with three thorns attached to it. I normally have and use loads so I would need to be clever how I used them.
flowers is made from a single piece of grass and one thorn holding it together. I like the simplicity of the result and the challenge of having limited materials to construct with and that process has left me with new ideas.

So indeed, one idea does lead to another. I've always said that land art is about the doing, not the planning or the seeing. The inspiration comes from the making itself and so it is clear to me that I am lacking in ideas because I having been creating less. The two are intertwined and you need one to feed the other. Doing it gives you more drive to do more. But what seems like such a simple and obvious solution can often be the hardest to find, despite it being there right in front of you.