Elizabeth Hammond

a social prescribing course commissioned by Chapel Arts Studio

and generously funded by Hampshire County Council and Arts Council England

Nature. Attention. Consistence. Continuance. Balance. Timeless. Creative connections.

This project is about celebrating the Autumnal change in nature by taking the time to notice and explore the beauty of our changing landscape through creative means. Everyone needs nature as an aid to wellbeing and by connecting with it together in a meaningful way through art, we can build continued connection with place, each other and ourselves.

Exploring Through Drawing

Exploration, selection and introduction. We explored the natural objects in the space and selected one we felt best represented us as a person. We introduced ourselves by placing our object in the centre of the circle and explaining why we chose it. One by one, the objects were placed together in a way that they formed an artwork. We then made drawing tools from these found natural objects and drew collaboratively on the tabletop paper using Indian ink. We took time to engage with the objects more and connected to the present moment through slow ant drawings. Words were added through printing on the drawing. We learnt so much about and from each other in this process and inspiration for sketches and poems followed…

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens

This was the day our art group were all looking forward to. Our visit to Hillier’s

Arboretum to look at the trees, do some art in the open air, and pick up some discarded pieces of the natural world to study and look at more thoroughly.

Would it rain non stop like the previous day?

The unity minibus makes its torturous way up the narrow path and round the large yew tree. We climb aboard and were off.

I had had several trips to Hillliers in the past. One with Malcolm and his sister Barb. By chance we met their daughter Liz and her husband Chris who just happened to be there that day. Happy Memories.

The sky was a bit over cast as we set off for our exploration, but NO RAIN as yet.

Liz took us to view the large metal fir cone sculpture. We were to do a blind continuous line drawing of it. Liz praises us all. It’s a real feel good about yourself course. I personally think mine is rubbish, but of course it’s not really about drawing the object in front of you, but to find out something within yourself,

Hillier’s staff and their machines are laying out stars and decorating trees with icicles ready for the Winter Walks in the dark. Poor Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer is laid on his side, awaiting rescue.

We pause by some trees. By now most of us have found unusual leaves, seed heads, and discarded bark to pop into our forage bags for our workshop. I find a lovely pointy leaf. “That’s a red oak” says Jane who knows an amazing amount about different trees.

Liz sets us to draw something in one minute. I choose a tall tree. I make the trunk too large.

I wonder how they choose all the trees, and worked out how much space to give them, and thought about the eventual composition, colours etc.

Then we are given two minutes to complete our drawing. I choose a variegated plant with green fronds edged with yellow.

Liz explains we all have one or two minutes spare in our day, how ever busy our lives are, so actually we could all use this time to achieve something just for you.

We walked passed Little Red Riding Hood. She is followed by three rather fierce wolves.. They definitely didn’t look as if they’d let Red Riding Hood go. Although at £ 4,400 she is some catch.

Liz went over to a tree. It was a bit too damp for tree hugging. But we pressed the paper against the bark and rubbed the charcoal pencil against it. The pattern showed up well, but actually the pattern on the back of the paper where the paper had touched the bark was even better - rather magical.

The pond was next. There were loads of black fish, about a foot long, and the most delightful brightly coloured metal king fisher in orange and turquoise. He looked so cheerful.

We sat in the shelter and Liz got us to close our eyes and listen to the sounds we could hear and then draw them without opening our eyes. The waterfall for me was the loudest part – constant, beautiful sound of a cascade of water over flowing and pouring into the lake. A bird began to sing. It was quite peaceful. Some of us remarked on the tractor noise intruding but actually I never heard this.

We walked back up the hill, passing the wolves ever on the hunt

It was getting gloomier and colder. The cafes warmth was welcome. A too sweet hot chocolate and a rather crumbly and not very cheesy cheese scone was welcome. The lady kindly gave me some hot water to un-sweeten the hot chocolate a bit and then it was back to the workshop.

First we choose an item we had picked up on our walk. We had to write about it. I choose my pointy red oak leaf. And afterwards, if we wanted to, read it out.

By now brollies were going up outside. We’d been lucky to have a dry morning to walk in.

Then we used the charcoal and paints to keep a record of our morning. Some swapped leaves seed heads and unusual twigs.

I painted my red oak leaf, maidenhair tree leaf, (there have been fossils found of a maidenhair tree from millions of years ago) a crab apple, passed its best but still beautiful and a spray of tiny white flowers on a stalk. They looked like quaking grass.

There was a lovely warm buzz to the afternoon. Jane showed a poem to Liz, who asked if she could read it out. It was about autumn passing through winter, followed by the hope of spring. It was amazing. I think we were all impressed.

Coffee arrived - minus the biscuits. Suzanne braved the pouring rain to track them down. Only to be told, you had biscuits last time, but that was a mistake. The price DID NOT include biscuits. We thought this amusing and a bit petty. Liz said to please make sure we all drank some coffee to get something out of it, even if it didn’t include biscuits!

I noticed part of a cross cut of a tree trunk in a glass frame, about 3 inches thick. The notice said, this was a tree planted by order of Lord Nelson, and cut down and used for the refurbishment of the Victory in 2012. How cool is that?

We packed up at 4pm. The volunteer driver was waiting for us patiently and drove home in the rain.

Thanks Liz for a lovely interesting day.

Sue Nais

Creative Clay Connections

Taking inspiration from the drawings made and natural objects foraged at Hilliers we used sgraffito and embossing techniques on clay tiles, utilising key words uncovered through group discussion to imprint and write upon the surface. 

Botanical Beauty

We explored our foraged natural objects through the meditative medium of ink and discovered the most effective ways of adding colour to our clay works. There was much sadness around this being the penultimate session and the desire to continue. The creative connections made in our group are very strong.