Litter and fly tipping are not just a blot on the landscape, but potential pollution on a global scale. 

As the annual Open Studios event is cancelled,  I am creating a virtual walk in the woods to co-incide with the Great British September Clean to raise awareness of how we can make a difference to the environment.

These two vintage woodland prints originally painted by Daniel Sherrin (1868 - 1940) turned up at the car boot sale and I was inspired to re-interpret them after seeing Banksy's oil paintings depicting lifejackets which were worked into original 19th century seascapes to highlight the plight of migrants today.

Banksy’s paintings raised millions for charity and on an admittedly more modest scale I would like to do the same.

Whilst mine are only prints, they were produced in 1940 and are collector’s items. It feels quite brutal to paint over someone else’s work, particularly when you admire the skill of the artist and done quickly, my
artwork is crude in comparison. Normally I would never use straight black in a painting, but think it adds a harshness in the same way litter and fly tipped waste stands out as a blot in nature.

Growing up in a small village in Cheshire in the 1960's, I had a horror of litter from an early age. I lived next to an idyllic woodland with a stream where we often found dumped furniture and my friend and I collected a trailer full when we took part in a Keep Britain Tidy campaign as young teenagers.

In a gap year as a student I wrote to the Bristol Evening Post proposing to sweep the streets whilst unemployed. I was surprised by the reaction to this; some critical of my action and others offering to help in any way. At the time I was grateful to quickly get a job but realised the solution to keeping the environment clean was a complex and often political debate.

As an artist I now live by the coast in St Leonards and I am increasingly concerned about the effect of pollution in the sea. I have made several paintings to draw attention to senseless single use plastic and my waves now contain floating plastic bottles and bags and fish are about to swallow a bottle cap.

Changing the situation will not be a walk in the park but there are an increasing number of organisations focused on protecting the environment. I am playing a very small part but feel that if everyone did their bit there is still hope for a greener planet.

As well as raising  funds for the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, my painting titled 'Wrong Blue In The Ocean' of plastic pollution in the sea has been made into a print for sale with 50% of sales going to Surfers Against Sewage.

'Springtime in the Woods' and 'Beech Glade' by Daniel Sherrin re-imagined in the 21st century by Alex Leadbeater

If there is interest prints can be made of the images with 50% of sales going to Keep Britain Tidy.