Understorey: A Year Among Weeds

'A beautiful, quiet, achingly tender book. A year spent with weeds; giving voice to the exquisite and the everyday alike... It’s a reminder that the circle always turns; the light always comes back' Kerri ní Dochartaigh, author of Thin Places 'Anna Chapman Parker weaves together art history, botany, ecosystems, and the routines of everyday life in this gracefully illuminating account of a year drawing weeds. Through the shifting seasons, Chapman Parker’s drawings and prose reveal the extraordinary value of plants that are generally taken for granted, ignored, or obliterated, and the power of stopping to look carefully, pen in hand' Alixe Bovey, Dean and Deputy Director at The Courtauld 'A delicately written study of the joys and difficulties of paying attention' Jessie Greengrass, author of The High House 'What a brilliant idea, to fit into the interstices of days full of work and two children, the very plants that are themselves so good at filling the interstices of our daily lives. The attention that Anna Chapman Parker has given to the ordinary weeds surrounding her, both in drawings and words, gives them a heightened glamour, presence and worth' Ruth Pavey, author of A Wood of One's Own 'Anna Chapman Parker approaches the struggle to find creative fulfilment in a world full of distraction with the same generosity she extends to some of our most overlooked and downtrodden urban flora. This book is as clear-eyed as it is beautiful' Florence Wilkinson, author of Wild City 'This tranquil, meditative book is all about the quiet pleasure of examining something closely in order to truly appreciate it' Daily Mail 'This thoughtful and beautifully written book is a balm to the soul. Structured as a calendar year spent looking at wildflowers in the author's neighbourhood, and sketching them as part of an attempt to slow down and observe more carefully, this book is part illustrated artist's diary, and part meditation on the process of drawing: what it means to look, take time to observe, and to attempt to record what we see on the page. It's hard to overstate how thoughtful and well written this book is, or the impact it had on my too-busy, somewhat frazzled mind. I drank it in and it has changed me forever' Vicky MacKenzie, author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain