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Black grouse – a new painting
Colin has been working on this painting of black grouse over the last couple of weeks – it was on his easel at the Scottish Game Fair, and it’s now finished. There’s a lovely iridescence in the male’s plumage, and the two greyhens are beautiful in their intricate camouflage. The grass was probably the biggest headache – weaving it around to make it look real! Images copyright © Colin Woolf. More of his work can be seen at www.wildart.co.uk You can read more about black grouse here on The Hazel Tree.
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The ancient oak woods of Taynish
A landscape that is a living piece of Scotland's heritage: these oak woods have been growing in Knapdale for 7,000 years
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A new treasure: ‘Trees and How They Grow’ by G Clarke Nuttall
At a show last weekend I picked up this gorgeous old book from a second-hand book stall. Written by Gertrude Clarke Nuttall, it’s called ‘Trees And How They Grow’ and is dated 1913. Inside are 15 colour plates called ‘autochromes’ and 134 black-and-white photographs. A total of 24 species of trees are described in detail – among them alder, hornbeam, larch, poplar, horse chestnut, willow, wayfaring-tree – and the natural history is mixed with wonderful legends and folklore. This book is in fact a natural history specimen in its own right, because someone has collected leaves from the trees and pressed them carefully in the relevant chapters. These are now alarmingly fragile, especially the sprig of lime which still has…
by Jo Woolf
