How a Guardian is born

How a mind jumbled with forest stories creates a legend

I am a Forest of Dean artist, shaped by a lifetime spent in these ancient woodlands. My childhood unfolded along steep valleys, moss‑soft paths and riverbanks where the Wye and Severn carve their way through the land. I grew up exploring The Forest Track, Goose’s Neck Lane, down The Hollow, on The Tump near quiet bends of the River Wye at Lydbrook. These places taught me to see the forest not just as landscape, but as a living companion.

Today I live deep in the woods, surrounded by trees in every direction. This land continues to guide my work as a woodland artist, influencing the stories, guardians and creatures that inhabit the Woodland Realm.

Bixslade Quarry, Forest of Dean

The Woodland Realm

A Life Steeped in Woodland Work

Before I began developing my own style of British wildlife art, I spent years working for the Forestry Commission. I started with timber contracts, studying old maps and their forgotten woodland names — a treasure trove of history and lore. Later, I worked outdoors selecting trees, learning timber types, and travelling the district with my dogs to check for disease and keep public rights of way open.

Those years deepened my understanding of the forest: its rhythms, its responsibilities, its quiet stories. I now keep a smallholding in the middle of the woods, surrounded by animals and visited daily by wildlife. Looking back, the guardians had been walking beside me long before I ever drew them.

Flaxley Woods, Forest of Dean

Sutton Lodge, Soudley, Forest of Dean

Crafting the Guardians

Each guardian begins with many graphite sketches — rough, corrected, reshaped — until the pose feels true. Every guardian receives a sigil, a purpose, and a place within the Woodland Realm. I research local place names, gather fragments of folklore, and build the foundations of their story before a single pastel touches the paper.

My work blends wildlife observation with folklore, slowly evolving into what I hope will become a distinctive voice within mythic wildlife art. I use 100% archival materials, selecting the most lightfast pastels from Caran d’Ache, Stabilo, Faber‑Castell, Derwent, Conté à Paris, PanPastels and Sennelier. My paper is Pastelmat, ensuring each piece becomes a lasting original or fine art print.

Woodland Realm maps

The Making of a Guardian

Where Imagination and Memory Meet

The ideas often arrive in the middle of the night — insomnia has its uses. I’ve always loved drawing foxes, and I wanted a reason to draw more. Then came the spark: place them at the compass points. Let each direction have a guardian. Let the Realm grow around them.

My photography may be blurry, but my imagination is vivid. Childhood favourites like Wind in the Willows, Tales from the Riverbank, Brambly Hedge, Enid Blyton adventures and Watership Down taught me early on that animals could be heroes and landscapes could hold magic. Those stories planted the seeds of the Woodland Realm long before I ever named it.

These days my head is full of ideas — sparked by a place name, a rustle in the undergrowth, or a memory from the old paths. My phone is overflowing with notes because my memory is dreadful, but the Realm is alive and growing, one guardian at a time.

A Final Word

The Woodland Realm isn’t something I invented — it’s something I finally listened to. It has been whispering through my life since childhood: in the paths I walked, the work I did, the wildlife I cared for, and the stories that shaped me. My art is simply the way I give those whispers form.

Thank you for stepping into the woods with me. The guardians and I are glad you found your way here.

Woodland-themed flat lay showing fox artwork and envelopes labeled Monthly Print Club – promotes joining Karie‑Ann’s Monthly Print Club for new art prints every month