One of my followers and fellow Birr Castle Demesne dweller, Sherwood Harrington illustrated the trail in great detail through photography here. This collection of trees is like a globe trotting experience which takes you from Mexico to China in several hours of walking.
I've represented the trail with two very different works in my series. My magnolia painting was posted early in my blogging. My latest is of this tree first sighted during one of my early morning bench reflections.Where I come from trees don't get this big. For a better sense of it check out Sherwood's Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant redwood) .
Sequoiadendron giganteum which comes from The Sierra Nevada range in California is now efficiently conserved following reduction in the species by the lumbering industry.
It was introduced to Ireland in 1855 and the best specimens have grown to 40 m high. It towers above the vegetation around it and can be seen across fields and hedges. I imagined it as a garden lighthouse. Standing next to it made me feel very insignificant.
After running through many ideas about how to best represent this stately tree, I resorted to this composition. Different I know from the amount of obsessive detail in my other pieces. This is mostly textured collage and acrylic paint. Little painting occurred except for the sign which I've done four times and decided it is now perfect (which it isn't). The piece also references the scientific focus of the Demesne owners who for centuries were involved in the collecting and cultivation of new species of plants and trees.
