It’s been a little while since I went out into the world with a sketchbook and actually sunk, looked, dwelled and drew from life. I often find it hard to let go of attempting to be accurate when working like this and it can take a bit of time to loosen up. I recently went to the Elisabeth Frink exhibition1 at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and her drawing, print and sculptural work was a beautiful reminder that just because an image looks like a thing, doesn’t mean that it will feel like the thing. The energy, economy and immediacy of her work is often incredibly rough, but it absolutely captures the spirit of the thing.
With this in mind, I headed out with some clunky tools (oil pastels, a shitty sketchbook, gelli printing kit) that refuse to cow to any sense of accuracy and made some pictures.
Sweet Woodruff, Galium odoratum
Alongside this sketchbook work, I also spent a couple of days gelli printing at the allotment. The sun was out in full, so I found myself drawn to the shade of the fruit trees, under which we have planted Sweet Woodruff, Galium odoratum, as a ground cover. It helps to keep moisture in the soil by shading it from the strength of the light, its roots helping knit the soil structure together, preventing erosion and it’s vanilla scented flowers in May attract a host of pollinators. We only planted a few clumps, but its rhizomatic growth has allowed it to spread and pop up all over the place, through paths, hugging the base of the trees. Whilst each patch only grows about 30cm high, it grows dense, maximising the space and available light in its natural habitat of woodland and hedgerows. Whorled, lanceolate leaves on rectangular stems creeping across the ground, tying itself in knots.
