Going surreal at Delamere house

As it was decent weather, I decided to get some decent A1 paper out. When you think about working outside … or read about artists in the plein air, you tend to forget that a breeze can knock your water or ink over. In fact the bigger the paper the more surface area for a sail-like effect.

Anyhow I persevered and achieved the following. The first is the pond and its little Monet-style bridge.

The second darker rendition has the statue, the menacing tree and the spooky Elizabethan house.

The clouds were purposefully very loose and unstructured. The trees in both drawings have a life/personality. I had never thought to give the trees a life which is not dissimilar to the ‘ ents’ in Lord of the rings.
Even with the house, you get the feeling that it could be subsumed by the mass of the tree on the left. I showed this to a friend and it conjured up ‘age’.

I guess that makes sense. For me, the first picture is very redolent of something classic, Dali or Van Gogh … certainly not of this world.
The picture with the house is spooky and ‘stranger things’ looking.

I have another thought that our two cats might see the world like this. So a cat’s eyes view of our garden.

I like them!

David Jackson

16.06.2025