Hedge Paintings

Hedge

These paintings emerged from time spent with ancient laid beech hedges on the edge of Exmoor National Park where I live. Dense living boundaries holding entire ecosystems inside their tangled forms. I am drawn to their complexity, the way they gather life and absorb weather, layering growth, decay and renewal over long periods of time. The marks become a way of translating that density, holding the flora, a the hum of unseen activity and the tension between fragility and endurance. In a moment where the future feels uncertain I think these hedges suggest a kind of resilience and the paintings become somewhere to remain with that feeling rather than resolve it.

abstract nature in Exmoor painting on paper by Catherine Heard,

Beech Root, emulsion, charcoal, chalk, acrylic oil pastel and cotton thread on card, 80 x 30cm, March 2026

abstract landscape painting by Catherine Heard depicting nature on Exmoor, West Somerset

Beech, emulsion, acrylic, grass, charcoal, oil pastel, felt tip and wax pastel on card, 50 x 80 cm, April 2026

Abstract painting of plants, green and orange, movement, figurative abstraction by Catherine Heard

Hot Beech, emulsion, grass, charcoal, oil pastel and wax pastel on card, 50 x 80 cm, March 2026

Pressure system, charcoal, emulsion, felt tip, road marker and thread on paper laid down on canvas, 40 x 30cm, February 2026

Wormscape, household emulsion, acrylic, gloss, paper and thread on canvas, 40 x 30cm March 2026

Dock, emulsion, charcoal, grass, spray paint, felt pen, oil pastel and acrylic on card, 80 x 30cm, April 2026