Didcot's Oaks - Linda Benton's Oxfordshire Artweeks Exhibition

Linda Benton’s Artweeks’ Exhibition at Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot for the month of May.

"It’s been wonderful to have the opportunity to illustrate an anthology of poetry on the theme of Didcot’s Oaks, not to mention the other notable trees. The words and trees have inspired me, and I’ve had the freedom to work in different media and sizes.

The book is sponsored by the Poets’ Trail project which is funded by a legacy kindly left by East Hagbourne poet,Roger Phipps, and it will be launched at the beginning of Artweeks.

It feels very timely to highlight our mature trees, because there ate large new housing developments under construction around Didcot and care needs to be taken to protect and respect the trees. The Didcot area is renowned for the number of magnificent mature oaks that have survived.

The illustrations are a mixture of representative portraits of trees and more imaginative interpretations suggested by the words.The poems have been written by local people, some serious writers and some just moved to have a go. Roger was a great one for encouraging people to be confident enough to try putting pen to paper.

Most of my work is fairly detailed. I use watercolour, ink line, pencil and oil paint. I enjoy including little surprises … a snail, a bird, a butterfly … that you may not see at first glance. Local trees have been endlessly inspiring in all seasons of the year. This area has always offered me plenty of subject matter for my artwork.

Over the years The Poets’ Trail has produced a number of illustrated anthologies, so in the exhibition there are also pictures from The Four Seasons and Green Theme."