Projects

Expressive single warm beige brush stroke

Concept Based Work

Once a Wood

‘Solstice to Solstice’ Series

“Once a wood, always a wood” is taken from Sylvia Townsend Warner’s 1926 novel Lolly Willowes. The quote comes from a moment when the eponymous Lolly’s understanding of reality pivots and recalibrates to grasp the emphatic power of nature.

Line drawing of a woodland landscape with tall, thin trees receding into the background.

This ongoing project encompasses drawings, textile pieces, and prints based on a series of photographs taken at 6 a.m. each week from the same spot in the same woodland. Through the series, we see the light, colour, and dimensions of the wood alter, charting the inevitable quiet wonder of twilight and daybreak from solstice to solstice. 

Please contact info@mariaboltonartist.co.uk if you have a purchase enquiry.

I have always relished the directness of chalk pastels combined the potentail to layer marks of pure pigment, giving the drawings an imediacy and intenisty of colour.

Chalk Pastel Drawing

  • A chalk pastel drawing of a dark forest scene with intertwining trees, a twilight sky visible through the branches, and some faint handwritten text at the bottom which read "once a Wood".

    Once a Wood - Winter Solstice

    29 cm x 39 cm

    Chalk pastel over acrylic paint on paper

  • A chalk pastel drawing of a woodland scene at twilight with tall, leafless trees, a mix of blue and dark tones, and a light sky in the background.

    ONCE A WOOD - FEBRUARY

    29 cm x 39 cm

    Chalk pastel over acrylic paint on paper

  • An vivid chalk pastel drawing of a wooded area during sunrise with leafless trees, light filtering through, and dark shadows on the ground.

    Once a Wood - March

    29 cm x 39 cm

    Chalk pastel over acrylic paint on paper

  • Once a Wood - April

    29 cm x 39 cm

    Chalk pastel over acrylic paint on paper

The pieces below are all created on velvet, printed using mono and screen printing in rich, complex layers, and embellished with hand embroidery and gold foil.

Tap an image to reveal its inspiration and details:

Textile Pieces

Textile art depicting a woodland scene with tall, black, bare trees, a dark ground, blue sky, and accents of gold thread, framed in black.

37 cm x 43 cm (Image size)

47 cm x 54 cm (Framed size)

Procion dye screen print, mono print, embroidery and gold foil on velvet.

Once a wood - Winter Solstice