Skylarks and Cotton Grass (2023)

Original media: Inks, gouache, acrylics, watercolour, coloured pencil, gold leaf and gold thread

Painted for 'HOME' – a solo exhibition at Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge.

This is the descent down to Swillington Farm from Stoodley Pike. From February I start to hear the skylarks – it’s one of the earliest signs of the coming spring. They get louder as the weeks progress and I often hear curlews too. The skylarks swoop low across the path in front of me, nesting in the long grasses. Later in spring comes the cotton grass, which looks like frost from a distance. At Swillington there’s sometimes a cuckoo, heard in May, in the valley below. That’s Edge End moor in the middle ground on the left, and the top of Rake’s Head gilded to its right.

Available as a mounted and signed limited edition print – unframed. Hand-finished with gold leaf and gold thread.