You don’t have to be an arboriculturist to see that Debbie Baxter has an affinity for trees. Just take a look at her portfolio. Not only does it celebrate some of Hertfordshire’s finest, and largest, but is testament to a kinship the roots of which date back decades. Raised in a tiny cottage on the doorstep of Broxbourne Woods she regularly climbed its giant walnut trees and silver birches, taking up lookout posts over the village and miles of woodland. It was her playground but it also induced a spiritual connection that continues to resonate and inform her soul and her profession. ‘I can still get lost in those woods,’ she says, adding, ‘it’s ‘my go-to place when I need a bit of solace.’ While Broxbourne provided her artistic grounding, these days the 51-year-old is similarly inspired by the woodlands of Ashridge Estate, where she says the light is ‘phenomenal’. But wherever she paints trees, it is in search of an intangible quality.
‘Something has to be magical,’ she reflects. ‘Quite often it’s the quality of light – how it comes through the trees. I will probably walk around a tree several times before I find the right composition. It’s an inner language. I look at how things relate to their environment. I want to capture that feeling I have when I see a tree.’
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2020-Ausgabe von Hertfordshire Life.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2020-Ausgabe von Hertfordshire Life.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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Explosive history
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Return of the Queen of Romance
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Marking its 70th year, Welham Green soft furnishings company Ashley Wilde has grown from a pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap business into an industry leader with A-list partnerships
Roam with a view
We may not have coastline or mountains, but Herts has beautiful views all the same, if you know where to look
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The secret life of a much-loved British mammal and simple steps we can take at home to stop its extinction
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5 minutes with
Carole Spiers, Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce member and founder of International Stress Awareness Week