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Artist Emily Ault, pictured in her sanctuary and inspiration, Queen’s Wood |
Queen’s Wood, seen through the four seasons
A WONDERLAND of wildlife, Queen’s Wood, Highgate, has been a personal sanctuary for artist Emily Ault, as well as being a source of seasonal inspiration.
Emily, from Archway, has now produced more than 50 paintings of her beloved wood, which go on show at the Highgate Gallery from today (Friday) until January 29.
A mother of three – including a severely autistic 16-year-old son – Emily painted a different “woodscape” scene each week for a year in 2007 for this colourful collection of works.
“I’ve been coming to Queens Wood for 20 years and I’ve always found something new and exciting about it,” she said. “It is one of my favourite urban wildlife spaces. I go there quite a lot with my autistic son because the environment is quite stimulating and he feels safe.
“Considering it is in the heart of urban London and a few yards from busy Archway Road, the wood is incredibly quiet and peaceful.”
Queen’s Wood, named after Queen Victoria in 1898, was earmarked as a site of Metropolitan Importance in 1996 due to its extraordinary variety of trees, plants and species of birds and insects.
By concentrating on the minute details and colours of the flora and fauna for each individual scene, Emily hopes that she manages to celebrate a different area in the woods with each painting.
Emily, 48, has only recently begun work as an illustrator.
She has a joint honours degree in English and Russian from University of St Andrews and worked for several years in film, video and television.
During this period she was a researcher for the ICA, Television South, BBC, Spitting Image Productions and Hat Trick Productions.
She lived in France for five years in the mid-1980s, a time she spent mostly looking after her young family. She returned to England to deal with the full-time job of caring for her autistic child and his two siblings.
Recently Emily completed an MA in
Children’s Book Illustration from Anglia Ruskin University and has been working on a number of private commissions, as well as
running children’s workshops in making picture books.
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