HE’S the Essex artist who made his name painting a single tree. And now Stephen Taylor is back, this time with a show made up of limited edition prints of the oak that made his name.

Stephen was searching for a way to express his grief after losing his mother, father and a friend when he discovered a field in West Bergholt.

Developing an artistic fixation on a single oak tree, he began painting it over and over again.

He says: “I remember getting a call from some friends who had just bought a farm inviting me around for dinner.

“I was looking for a subject at the time and just found this field. I thought ‘that will do’.”

Later Stephen was taken around the field by the farm manager with particular attention paid to the oak tree.

“We spent an hour walking just once around the tree,” he adds, “and I thought if that’s how much he can show me in an hour this is an exhibition here.”

Stephen visited the field two to three times a week over three years and ended up painting 50 works of art, all of which have now been sold to collectors all over the world.

Later he published a book about his project, which ended up becoming Oprah Winfrey’s book of the month.

“When you stay in one place long enough you can discover a complete universe in a field,” he tells me.

“There’s an incredible richness in small things and if you look at one thing for long enough you see a lot more than you would normally.

“The biggest painting went to Sydney to a private collector who lives on the harbour. It’s a bit strange to think of that tree from West Bergholt dotted all over the world.”

Now based in Ely, Stephen is back in the heart of Constable country at Flatford mill with a selection of limited edition prints of the tree.

“I lived in Colchester when I was very tiny,” Stephen says, “I eventually came back to do an art history course at Colchester Institute and ended up doing my dissertation on Constable so it’s really great to be exhibiting my work at Flatford.

“I have always been drawn to nature.”

Oak: One tree, Three years, Fifty paintings by Stephen Taylor
Boat House Gallery,
National Trust,
Flatford.
Until June 30. Free.