Tory Lawrence

DEDHAM VALE WATERCOLOURS

All my life I have loved the English countryside and worked with the open downland of Wessex as my subject matter for many years. That is where I spent my childhood. Since moving to Suffolk I have discovered a very different, more gentle sense of place beneath the clear light of the famous sky.

Path to Dedham

Willow Trees

I decided to explore the landscape around Dedham and Flatford Mill, where Constable was inspired in the nineteenth century to find out whether his compositions are still recognisable. A kind National Trust guide toured me round the well known view on which Constable based many of his paintings - of boats, boat building and the river Stour. The boats are no longer there, the lock has been moved and I wonder if it is ever used, but the cottages, mill, bridge and river remain. It is a treasured and much visited mecca. People do not seem to intrude and the water meadows, through which the path to Dedham runs, are tranquil and timeless. Black and white cows graze peacefully. The Victorian planting of willow trees obscures the original view of Dedham Church, but it can be seen in the distance. It is this richly historic landscape that has inspired my new watercolours.

Gatekeeper butterfly in foliage

Speckled Wood butterflies