Tag Archives: trees

Lime Blossom

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Above: Lime Blossom at Leopold Place. Charcoal on A4 paper. Rose Strang 2026.

Lime Blossom, Linden, Tilleul, Tilia, or to give it its classic Latin name; Tilia Cordata. It’s one of the most elusive, romantic and emotionally resonant scents, and as each year passes I find myself more and more entranced and obsessed by its aroma. Something to do with ageing and the symbology of it all? The inexorable scythe that begins to hover over the head as we approach our later lives?!!

Today was so rainy and cold we decided to stay in Edinburgh rather than drive to Fairhill (otherwise known as Pishwanton) to sketch fern and birch.

I thought I’d sketch, in the comfort of the house, a lime blossom leaf, but it felt so wrong not to work from life, outdoors (I’m bored of the term en plein air). I’ve got used to the charge, or aura of the real subject, now that I’m focussing on straightfoward observation for a while (as part of my ongoing Fairhill series, which you can read about in my previous blogs.)

So I got my sketch pad and charcoal and walked along to the park on Leopold Place at the end of my street, to sketch the Limeblossom trees. And that immediately felt better. I was only there about 20 minutes, but it felt good to pay homage to one of my favourite trees.

Charcoal sketch Rose Strang 2026
Charcoal sketch Rose Strang 2026
Leopold Place. Rose Strang 2025

When I returned, I began to make dinner and a young buzzard (still slightly fluffy, in appearance if not personality) arrived on the tree outside our kitchen window, terrifying all the local birds. Fascinating to see such a sight in the city – he was something to observe to quote from Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill!

It was somewhat grim watching him eat a pigeon, but mesmerising to watch such a bird up close. The local tits (and I don’t refer to my fellow Leithers!) and pigeons swooped up onto the opposite roofs, not daring to return to their favourite tree. It made up for missing out on our hare at Fairhill today.

Photo dam Brewster. May 2026
Photo Adam Brewster May 2026
Photo Adam Brewster May 2026

Back to lime blossoms though, they don’t properly emerge until June. This year I’m ready for them, and I’ll be posting about it on instagram every week or so, as the moment of ‘peak’ lime blossom approaches.

This is to celebrate the 1st anniversary of writing about perfume and scent on my perfume-related Substack and instagram, since my first ever post was about lime blossom last year. You can read or follow them on these links …

The Perfume Papers (Substack)  and on Instagram Rose Strang Perfume

Forest of Fairhill

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Above. Birch Trees and Willow Shelter. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026.

This painting is inspired by the birch forests of Pishwanton at Fairhill, which is situated next to a gushing stream and a hill where witches used to gather. In old Scots ‘pish’ means a fast flowing stream and ‘wanton’ means abundant. So there you are, that explains the strange place name!

Pishwanton is owned by the Life Science Trust and everything there is created, grown or built according to Steiner principles about harmony and conservation. Just being there feels more gentle, not in a precious sort of way – just the way that nothing jars, visually or to the nose.

I’ve visited a lot over the years, and now I’m creating a little series of paintings inspired by the arrival of spring in Pishwanton. I feel we could all do with the harmony of Pishwanton just now. Here are a couple of details from the painting ..

Tonight I’m off to see an exhibition in Edinburgh of drawings by Matthew Collings, he did a wonderful series of documentaries in the 1990s about art. He creates paintings with his wife Emma Briggs, and he also draws, very prolifically. I bought one of his sketches a couple of years ago. It’s a self portrait of Matthew Collings drawing a sketch of the artist Frank Auerbach after Auerbach died.  Although Collings says the drawings are instinctive, to me it speaks of mortality. I don’t know if it was intentional, but in the sketch Collings looks semi transparent, as if if disappearing from existence. I find it both moving and uplifting, and I love the colours. I took quite a while choosing the frame with Jamie from Edinburgh’s Detail Framing and I think it looks wonderful floating above the shipwreck n my bookcase, along from a sea triptych I painted a year or so ago.

The subject matter Collings chooses is simply what he experiences each day; memories or current situations and experiences. For the past year of so the best part of his drawings have been about the war on Gaza, tso he work is often harrowing, capturing the brutality visited upon innocent civilians by our world leaders. I’ll post more about the exhibition tomorrow.