‘His descriptions are precise in every line, shaded so cleverly that the whole ninety pages work on you like a painting by Seurat. The dabs of colour are pretty enough – but stand back and there lies an entire landscape . . .’ wrote Gee Williams in A World of Shining Beauty, an article on John Masefield’s 1966 memoir Grace before Ploughing from Slightly Foxed, Issue 33.
While there may not be dabs of colour in this week’s wood engraving, Peter Reddick has beautifully captured this rural landscape of rolling hills and spring meadows.
About the contributor
Peter Reddick was born in Essex and was studying at South East Essex Technical College when the Second World War broke out. As a Quaker, he did not undertake military service, but worked as a gardener in Northamptonshire. It was here that he began engraving, cutting a length of box tree into rounds and teaching himself the craft. He went on to study at the Guildford and Cardiff schools of art, as well as the Slade and the London School of Printing, and taught lettering, lithography and #illustration in London, Ghana and Bristol. Reddick illustrated more than 50 books, including 18 volumes of the works of Thomas Hardy, Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles, and the Folio Society’s edition of Wordsworth’s poetry. He was a member of the Royal West of England Academy, the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and the Society of Wood Engravers.
It’s so lovely. I can feel the sun on my face and the dull hum of bees buzzing.