Artist marks year since Sycamore Gap tree felling with painted tea bags tribute

A nature-loving artist has painted the Sycamore Gap tree in different settings on used tea bags to mark a year since it was felled.

The much photographed and visited sycamore was cut down overnight between September 27 and 28 2023, which sparked widespread anger and upset.

Caroline West said she was “devastated” when the incident occurred, which prompted her to pay homage to the “iconic” tree through painting it in different seasons, including winter and autumn, as well as at nighttime and “against a sunset sky”.

The 50-year-old who lives in Waterlooville, in Hampshire, told the PA news agency: “I love nature and my artwork has always been inspired by nature and I love trees – I just think they’re amazing and they’ve all got a story to tell and it was just a really senseless thing to have happened.

“I’ve been painting British landmarks (on tea bags) for a little while and this was just something that really jumped out at me when I was doing research on landmarks.

“It’s inspired loads of artists and poets and creative people for a very long time, so it’s just something that I really wanted to capture.”

In order to make the creative tributes, she began by drying out used tea bags, cutting them up, scraping out all the tea and ironing them flat.

The edges were then taped, the tea bags were placed on backing paper, a base layer was applied and then she used acrylic paint to create the four different scenes.

She began painting the miniature works of art roughly two to three months ago, with her favourite being the autumn one.

“I could paint endless ones of them because there’s so many beautiful scenes of it you can do with the different seasons and different skies,” she added.

“They’re all quite fiddly – they all involve a small brush and lots of squinting.”

Despite having never visited the Sycamore Gap tree, Mrs West said she has always felt a connection to it.

“I just think it’s really iconic and there’s just something really poignant about it,” she said.

“You read all the stories about it – I think there’s been marriage proposals there, people have scattered ashes there.

“It just obviously means a lot to different people and it’s just a really iconic British landmark.”

She said the tea bags have been a hit with people who have seen them.

“They’ve just really taken off, I think when you paint British landmarks, it means a lot to people – they’re memories and important places.”

Aside from the Sycamore Gap tree series, Mrs West has painted other popular landmarks on used tea bags since August 2023 including Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, Tower Bridge, in London and Durdle Door, in Dorset.

“I sold one tea bag of Durdle Door which someone bought because that’s where they had their first date and they proposed to their future wife there,” she added.

“I just think it’s a really lovely way to commemorate something.”

More information about Mrs West’s work can be found here: https://www.carolouiseart.com/