Looking at which plants on the riverbank to draw, I am reminded of one of my favourite paintings – The Great Piece of Turf by Albrecht Dürer, 1503.
In it, each blade of grass and every leaf has been meticulously painted. It has a natural composition and I imagine the whole turf was dug up and taken back to his studio to draw. I like that the dandelions have finished flowering and that there are no beautiful flowers and even some of the plant roots are revealed. It seems a very truthful drawing. The clod of earth gives a sense of the rootedness and ordinariness of the plants. The Great Piece of Turf seems very contemporary in that it privileges the natural habitat and ecology of the plants over cultural concerns of the day.
The River Crane has many ‘great pieces of turf’, where plants have rooted into deep mud deposited along the margins. Some of these are easy to lift up and take back to the studio.
I have taken one piece back to draw. It contains common ragwort, ladies thumb and other unidentified plants. The plants look as though they are only just surviving – and yet they are probably thriving! I have drawn them on a piece of recycled plywood, in charcoal and acrylic paint.
Common ragwort, ladies thumb and other plants, charcoal and acrylic on plywood, 122 x 88cm