Some get more eaten up than others –
especially when viewed from different
perspectives
2010
1461 x 1150 mms
pen-and-ink on watercolour paper
A huge study of three pine cones from a small, mature plantation of Norway Spruce near Nicholson’s studio. This was her last picture, begun in the early summer of 2010 as she recovered from further cancer treatment, and completed only at the end of the year. In her preoccupation with damage, she chose to depict three desiccated cones lying on the dry needles, each eaten up by wood mice to varying degrees. Enlarging each cone to seven times its actual size, Nicholson accentuated the physical changes which occurred during the months in which she worked on the piece in her studio. The technical challenges were considerable, since pine cones react to changing pressure and moisture in the air by opening and closing fractionally. Their appearance was also subject to momentary changes in light, which in Nicholson’s studio predominantly fell from a sky-light; so on dull days, certain marks on the cones could appear as mere smudges, while in bright sunlight the same marks would be clearly defined and glossy. Since Nicholson strongly believed that she should draw only what she saw at a given moment, the three pine cones are a portrait of time, light and pressure over a period of months.
