‘A Tree for All Seasons’ is painting of an oak tree shown above and below ground featuring weather, nature, history and magic.

A Tree for All Seasons is a watercolour commissioned by Laura for her mother Suzanne. The brief was simple – a painting of a tree shown both above and below ground. Laura included a ‘shopping list’ of things she’d like to see in the painting: raven, magpie, seasons, celtic symbol, wildlife – including the little things, red squirrel, hibernation, fossils. I was given completely free-rein to imagine how this lot might go together which is how I like it. I updated Laura with frequent photos as I painted.

The tree I have imagined is an oak. But the idea of a tree shown above and below ground reminded me of Yggdrasil, the sacred ash tree of Norse mythology. So I thought that as well as the weather to show the seasons, I’d add a bit of history, too.

Below ground, in the rock layer I’ve illustrated an ichthyosaur fossil and two ammonites. There’s an aquifer into which the tree for all seasons dips its roots. A fox lies sleeping and a mole digs its way towards a juicy worm. The triple spiral – the triscal – is an ancient motif. It’s often found carved into rocks dating from the Neolithic period. The spirals echo the ammonites and the sleepy snail overwintering beneath root on the left, as well as the wheeling stars in the sky. I’ve imagined the tree trunk as a celtic knot with its ends reaching up into the branches. The fallow deer is a direct reference from William Morris’s wallpaper design “The Brook”. Up in the branches is Mr Blackbird is feeding his chicks. There’s a scarlet tiger moth, a purple emperor butterfly, a ladybird and a red squirrel. And at the very top of the tree for all seasons is Mrs Magpie who has a gold disc in her beak.