The Great Hurricane of October 15th 1987

25 years ago today we awoke to a scene of utter devastation after a terrifying night listening to the wind and the crashing of the trees.  We lived on the edge of St Leonards forest in West Sussex in England, surrounded by lovely woodland with hills and valleys with lakes and the forest where we walked as often as we could.  Most of the trees in our garden and the copse outside were laying on the ground and our lane to the outside world was blocked by many trees. It took us and our neighbours 2 days to clear a way through and we had no power for a week but we pulled together nd our little community was strengthened by the experience.

When we were finally able to get out and see the rest of our area we were saddened to see how many trees had been lost in that single night, apparently 15 million trees fell!  Only 18 people lost their lives, the toll could have been much higher if the storm had happened during the day. 

While were on holiday camping in Sweden recently we cycled through the forests to visit places nearby.  I really loved the height of the trees and the beautiful bright green undergrowth;  English forests seem to be so much darker with a dry brown floor.

Pablo pencils on acrylic ink tinted watercolour moleskine.

That subtle something - Maree

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

W&N watercolour in small hand-made sketch-book with hand-crafted satin-finish Linen paper

Walking through our Blue gum bush a couple of months ago, looking for something to sketch, a leaf maybe, or a mushroom, I suddenly realised that RIGHT THERE, in front of me, was the sketching matter. I was surrounded by blue gum trees, and all I had to do, was paint them!

Playing with greens - Sigrid Frensen

Yesterday I was mixing greens. Just experimenting with my browns, yellows, blues and greens. I got some really nice colours but didn't do much with it. Rather stupid not to make something nice with it, I thought. So I started this little memory of a walk through the forest I took last year.

I used a reference photo too but didn't look too much at it. I think the greens I used are a bit more springtime than they actually were when I took that walk (October).
I never work this "free", it's a bit uncomfortable for me but sometimes it's nice to let yourself go and do something entirely different.

Fungi Family - Sigrid Frensen

A few weeks ago I was in the beautiful forest of Roden. There were thousands of mushrooms, so many different kinds and all so pretty. I made some photos so I could maybe draw them at home. Bertus was with me so I couldn't sketch there. I picked this one for a drawing. It's not very detailed. I just don't have enough time and energy to do that. I made it on (bad) paper with coloured pencils and soft pastels.