“The Untidy Countryside”

I, like many, have thoroughly enjoyed the amount of sunshine we’ve been getting recently. Even when we were only allowed out of the house once a day, the sunny weather was incredibly uplifting.

Now that we can venture out more frequently (in a safe, physically-distanced way), it’s been a pleasure to go for longer walks in places off the beaten track in the countryside. It’s certainly worth the sunburn! Side note – sunburn seems to always be an inevitable outcome. I get burnt through cloud at 13C, even after suncream. Seriously.

I’ve actually started seeing some parts of the countryside in a completely new light after recently reading ‘The Accidental Countryside’ by Stephen Moss and this was the inspiration behind my most recent art piece. In the book, Moss takes the wildlife enthusiast through a variety of different habitats that have been heavily influenced by – or created by – human beings. In most cases, these spaces were never intended to support the plants, trees, mammals and birds that now call them home. One of the more eye-opening aspects of his book, for me, is the abundance of wildlife – often quite rare wildlife – that brownfield sites support. Old, disused railway lines, for example, provide much-needed ‘wildlife corridors’ for many species. 

Another thing that opened my eyes was Moss’s commentary on roadside verges. Now, it doesn’t sound like the most inspiring of topics and I’m not suggesting that everyone would knock back a shot and shout opa after they’d read it. Maybe some would. Maybe some wouldn’t. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Moss made a compelling argument about the wildlife that the untamed roadside verge can harbour. And it took me back to where I grew up…

A couple of years ago, I visited my parents in the little Lancashire town from my childhood. It’s known colloquially as ‘Barlick’ and had an abundance of cotton mills back in the day. It also sits proudly on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. On this particular visit, I walked down to the canal with my mum and dad. I remember that it was a beautiful evening. On the way there, we walked downhill along a wide footpath next to the main road leading out of town. Separating us from the road was a grassy verge and the first thing anyone would notice is just how untidy it was. I mean, it really was.

‘Old me’ only saw how scruffy it looked. After reading this book, though, I thought about it in a completely different light. Untamed roadside verges provide very important places for wildflowers to grow and they, in turn, support bees, butterflies and other insects. How untidy it is is actually what gives it its beauty. I decided that I wanted to have a go at painting my own cross-section of a roadside verge, complete with a range of wildflowers, to create my own ‘accidental’ countryside.

I started by making a note of some of the flowers that I’ve seen beside roads on local countryside walks and also had a bit of a go at researching the sorts of wildflowers that are common in the West Midlands, where I currently live. Lazy as ever, I didn’t want anything too challenging and I didn’t want to make it too complicated. I decided on: buttercups, daisies, welsh poppy, red campion, a type of bugloss and cow parsley. I was just going to use watercolours to create the piece but the watercolour layer ended up providing a base for the picture. I added acrylics and pencil crayon on top to give it more definition. I would do a few things a bit differently if I were to repeat the process again but I found I quite liked the finished product – I thought the untidy style suited it!

Aside from Moss’s inspiration, the key to this piece was observation. I’ve definitely found observing my surroundings to be a therapeutic exercise and I heard on the grapevine recently that June is the Wildlife Trusts’ ‘Wild Month’ where you’re encouraged to take up the ‘30 Days Wild’ challenge. I started this off yesterday evening by spending time in the garden after work, watering the plants and making a note of things I observed. I saw, for instance, that the lavender (that I stupidly bought in November and had consequently thought had died over winter) had grown. Win. I also noticed that something – unclear what – had been digging up part of the garden and I watched a bumblebee enjoying some purple flowers I’d only just clocked. An app on my phone tells me that the purple flowers are a type of bellflower.

I’m hoping to keep up with ‘Wild Month’ as much as I can throughout June, either by experiencing it first hand in the garden and on local walks or by continuing to express it through my artwork. It’s definitely helped to provide some direction and purpose at a much-needed time!