Waders and sketchbook

And the rivers will rise, ceramic figure found in the river, other materials from the river, bolt, filler, 50 x 50 x 50cm

As a result of regular visits to the Crane I am making a series of sculptural extractions using metal, wood, ceramics and other debris recovered from the riverbed. The work is a way of processing my experience of the river: its colour, muddiness, smell, relentlessness and battering of anything dropped in it or left in its way – as well as the continuity of all these qualities over time. The sculptures will be available to view at my forthcoming exhibition – for details see my website https://www.nickirolls.com/about.

Burdock at the nature reserve in September

Drawing burdock with inks on Kozo, exploring the way they bleed. I wanted to give the spiny burrs a soft edge. I made several drawings. The one below uses hand-made black and brown inks using river water and local oak galls, Windsor & Newton coloured drawing inks, compressed charcoal, and river water as a wash. I combined the drawing ink with walnut ink to get a beautiful warm sepia brown which seemed to bleed more than the drawing ink on its own – W&N drawing ink has shellac in it which may prevent it from bleeding so much. My favourite ink for bleed is Quink Ink. Not only does it bleed profusely, but the colours separate out leaving beautiful sepia stains. I have just resolved to draw the burdock again in Quink! I would also like to try making my own walnut ink. I could not find many oak galls last year and my hand-made black ink is down to the last inch – very precious!

Burdock, ink and charcoal on Kozo paper, 90 x 65cm

Richard Mabey: Burdock in art

A book I have recently discovered and loved reading is Weeds by Richard Mabey. Described on the dust jacket as ‘the first ever cultural history of weeds’, it has a whole chapter on burdock – which reveals famous works of art with burdock in (who’d have known!) – some of that chapter I thought I would share here…

Mabey draws attention to many famous works of art with burdock in them, from as early as the seventeenth century. In Claude Lorrain’s Landscape with Dancing Figures  and Landscape with Rustic Dance it is painted realistically at the bottom, recognisable by its large drooping leaves, but no flowering spikes. In Landscape with Narcissus and Echo the plant echoes Narcissus’s splayed legs and arms. Mabey also reveals burdock in works by Thomas Gainsborough and references a beautiful study of burdock leaves by Gainsborough, held at the British Museum https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1910-0212-256

Mabey puts forward the idea that “what burdock suggests in these pieces is that beauty can reside in the uneven and the asymmetrical – in the idea of weediness in fact”. He also points to the later work of George Stubbs, Horse Attacked by a Lion (on display at Tate Britain) where the plant plays a front and forward role, echoing the horse’s agonised head. Interestingly, here the burdock leaves are beginning to die, with patches of brown rust. Mabey suggests that the dying leaves in this picture invoke a sense of “elegance under pressure – what you might call grace”.

He also looks at a contemporary work which conveys “elegance in the business of living and ageing” – Janet Malcolm’s series of 28 close-up photographs of burdock leaves in different states of living and dying (2008). Her portraits, he says, give these “uncelebrated leaves” a kind of grace and nobility.

This idea of grace is very poignant. In my drawings, I aim to capture the unkempt, straggly, leggy, asymmetry of the wildflowers and weeds that grow outside, or that intrude into, cultivated gardens. Particularly given the role plants play in our ecosystem and in supporting life on earth and the disregard these plants are often given, the notion of grace recalled by these characteristics is very powerful. Weeds is one of those books that has had a strong resonance for me and Mabey’s writing continues to inform my work…

I dug up a reed, dock leaf and burdock on the nature reserve in September 2024. Each plant was tall with an imposing structure in the died-back, post-summer, nature reserve. I planned to draw them on 1.8 metre strong, light, Japanese Kozo paper, to be hung in the middle of a space. The thin Kozo paper would allow light to travel through giving the sense of the plant growing in the space.

Reed

In ink on old tracing paper, I wanted to test the drips from the inks, aiming to give a sense of the watery river and using a more translucent paper. It cockled with the water so I am hoping the stronger Awagami Washi Kozo paper, which has longer fibres for strength, would remain flatter. For now I have hung it from a branch with bull clips but I will find a branch from the river and hang without clips.

I also drew the reed in charcoal on the Kozo paper…The charcoal has a soft velvety texture on this paper.

Dock

The dock leaf is in charcoal on 1.8m Kozo paper. The leaves were alive, dark-green and exuberant and the flowers and their stalks were brown and gone to seed.

Dock leaf, charcoal on Kozo paper, 180 x 98cm

Northcote Nature Reserve is a fantastic example of community action. It was an old recreation ground that had fallen into neglect and disuse. But after nearly 10 years of hard work and sheer dogged determination, it has been transformed by local residents and the ‘Friends of Northcote Nature Reserve’ group, into an amazing sanctuary for plants and wildlife. It includes a tidal inlet from the River Crane which serves as a sheltering spot for fish at times of flood tides.

December

The reserve changes massively in character over the seasons. I visited in December and it looked like mainly ground cover, with a sparkling layer of frost.

April

By April the ‘ground cover’ was all growing upwards and flowers beginning to appear, including one of my favourites, white comfrey:

April also saw the formal opening of the Northcote Nature Reserve. Something which was dreamed up in 2016 had finally come to fruition. I have to add here that to get to this point has been a huge effort by those involved, fighting all along the way against oppositions and incompetencies. And even now it is open, managing the site in a democratic and inclusive way is an ongoing challenge.

June

By June, many plants were in full flower. However, no hope of digging any up for drawing – my spade literally only went 5mm into the sunbaked stony ground. I resorted to picking the flower head of this common knapweed as digging it out was not going to be an option.

July

By July, the reserve was a mass of wildflowers. Below shows a view through to the River Crane, with wild carrot, sow thistle and purple loosestrife on the near bank and Himalayan balsam on the opposite bank.

Wild carrot…

September

Now its September and the plants are beginning to die back, leaving beautiful skeletal frames. I have taken these two beauties back to my studio to draw.

Burdock and Dock