I made this little oil study after visiting my son Patrick and his wife Sarah at their home near London over two weekends. I made a pencil and watercolour study of the wonderful sycamore in their garden, and used that to make this little oil study back in the studio. I am finding nature is the greatest comfort in these difficult Covid times. Our movement and freedom is curtailed and anxiety is never far away. However, I really do find drawing from the motif outside helps me personally. Revisiting the experience back in the studio through what I make also helps. Rituals of stretching, rabbit-skin sizing and gessoing canvases also ground me in the present moment. These are very strange times and moving forward through being creative and responding to the natural world is a way of coping I have always turned to.