My work portrays the forest in which I live, not from the outside but from within. It reflects the flow in which we are all embedded, where everything is turning, embracing, folding and forming, all living to die and dying to live.
In forests, an infinite braid is woven, cambium pulsing beneath rough bark, rain drumming as roots taste thunder. Lightning awakens the mycelium and, in time, chlorophyll and lichen turn light into rich, teeming soil. Botanical eternity curls and twists, with antlers raised and ready, amidst the low throb of frog call and brilliant bird song.
My wish is to faithfully portray my own heart's responses to this rising of life all around me. I paint in the hope I can take you with me to the canopy's vast embrace from above, to breathe the scent of air, and rejoice with me in this great and beautiful wreath that we all wear, the ruin, the renewal and return of life.
Claire Yerbury, 2025
