Return to the scene

On my return visit, all snow past, I take camera and sketchbook. A photo taken from the same place looks only vaguely like the scene I had tried to capture and keep in my memory. The trees in the wood are so small in comparison with the expanse of the field at the front of the picture.

I photograph and sketch some of the tree shapes – they stand against the sky with their structure revealed and demanding to be noticed.

Later when I change the tractor lines and add some foreground, I put in some trees that I saw to the right of the wood – the shapes are good but they are far too big – in the photo they are so small they can hardly be seen. In my painting they might work if they were half the size or less. But I like the painting despite this - because I looked so carefully at how the snow lay on the trees and around the wood, the painting acts as a prompt to a memory that is deeper than usual.