Vieux Têtards

30 x 40 cm . Oil on panel.

vieux têtards (fr) = old coppiced willows (en)

Same coppiced willows but from the otherside this time. Contre-jour late afternoon, the spring sun light shining on the leaves. Sivery undersides. You can just about make out Henri’s ‘ haras’ or horse riding track in the foreground. He hasn’t yet harrowed it over for this season’s riding. I was impressed by just how perfectly circular it is, & asked Henri how he’d drawn it out on the ground. Apparently he marked it out with only a few sticks but it was the trotting around everyday with the horse & trap that had made it perfectly circular. Just steering the horse, tilting it round with measured pressure. One painting leads on to the next.