Colour from winter dampness
Covered, mostly in life, these stones attract water. No good for furniture… William Stukeley wrote that sarsen is “always moist and dewy in winter, which proves damp and unwholesome, and rots the furniture.”
North faces
There is a marked difference in colouring between the inner and outer faces. Rather, between the northern and southern faces. The sides that receive the least sunlight, that are damper and shadier and more rarely dry out that have the most abundant colours, and life.
And, there is a marked difference in colour during the seasons, too. Which is why I’ve picked the winter garb. During summer the sarsens are much more uniformly plain, old grey. Winter, to my eyes, are a singing joy of greens and yellows and browns and reds. More so, early mornings, when there is misty dampness and a yellow dawn, low sunlight.
A forest of lichen
But, this is great for the many plant species on the stones, which make up the biofilm. From the symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an alga, that is the shrubby fructose species of lichen, like the sea ivory lichen, that adorns the upper reaches of the northern faces, out of reach of people who can easily brush them off. To the mosses, grasses and algae. Not to mention the bird poop!
And, to think that these sea ivory lichen could live hundreds of years. Indeed, the flat, ink blot, crustose lichens, could be much, much older, perhaps thousands of years old. They are the slowest growers and on Stonehenge, there are whoppers. Bonus link…
Lichenometry a method of dating that uses lichen growth to determine the age of exposed rock.
Much of the raw sarsen rock is covered in dust lichens, especially, the damper Northern facing, faces. And, no doubt, as some species of lichen like the deeper shade in cracks and the interstitial cavities of vuggy sarsen, they’re responsible for expanding fissures and holes, as much as the acidic rain. As do mosses, which retain water, and freeze, expanding and pushing. All, and bird poop, produce acids that eat into this hard rock. But, the colours!!!
A camouflage
The colours are undoubtedly pretty. But, they are a disguise. A distraction to the ancient and modern graffiti, as well as the souvenir hunters’ scars and original builders’ tooling marks. Which is why I’ve made available the metallic textured versions of these pictures in copper and
iron which tarnish and rust into the cracks and scars; as well as light, reflecting off corners and edges.
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Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with aliens
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with curious cosmic tourists. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: alien characters, lichen aliens outer set, lichen pictures, outer faces.Buy a pictureVisiting extraterrestrials — Stonehenge is just one of the out-of-place-artifacts which litter the ancient time line.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. Lumpy, tooled lines and furrows, flaking, chipped; the outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Under the disguise of lichen are the original tooling lines, made more obvious by careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer faces north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with druids
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with a file of earth priests. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: druid characters, lichen druids outer set, lichen pictures, outer faces.Buy a pictureWandering ovates — religious leaders, legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. Lumpy, tooled lines and furrows, flaking, chipped; the outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Somewhat camouflaged by the colours and texture of lichen and mineral staining, the builders’ marks are accentuated by the careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with fairies
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with darting sprites. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: fairy characters, lichen fairies outer set, lichen pictures, outer faces.Buy a pictureFlitting fae — magical powers and a liking for mischief, sometimes tiny, sometimes as tall as us.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Under the disguise of lichen are the original tooling lines, made more obvious by careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with Merlin & giants
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with Merlin's workforce. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: lichen Merlin & giants outer set, lichen pictures, Merlin characters, outer faces.Buy a pictureThe sorcerer’s labourers — brought from Ireland, these mystical and medicinal stones as a monument to slain Britons by treacherous Saxons.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Under the disguise of lichen are the original tooling lines, made more obvious by careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with sha-ladies
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with twirling wise women. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: lichen pictures, lichen sha-ladies outer set, outer faces, sha-ladies characters.Buy a pictureSwaying priestesses — beauty, love, sexuality, motherhood, creativity, and fertility.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Under the disguise of lichen are the original tooling lines, made more obvious by careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with shamen
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with frenzied medicine men. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: lichen pictures, lichen shamen outer set, outer faces, shamen characters.Buy a pictureBone-rattling healers — all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, places, weather systems are alive.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Somewhat camouflaged by the colours and texture of lichen and mineral staining, the builders’ marks are accentuated by the careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with skeletons
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with dancing forebears. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: lichen pictures, lichen skeletons outer set, outer faces, skeleton characters.Buy a pictureThe ancestral dead — in these hallowed grounds, we enter death’s realm, by choice, vote or judgement.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Under the disguise of lichen are the original tooling lines, made more obvious by careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen with witches
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces with gyrating sky-clad sorceresses. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: lichen pictures, lichen witches outer set, outer faces, witch characters.Buy a pictureMoonlit enchantresses — a witches’ sabbath, joyous skyclad so as above, so below the great law of nature.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Damp, sweating colours camouflage the stone cutters’ tooling ridges, somewhat, but clever lighting puts them in focus.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora. -
Sale!
Outer Set in lichen, plain no characters
3 pictures. Earth tones of whites, greens and greys, outer rougher faces, clean and unembellished. Price range: £22.50 through £87.50 Tags: lichen pictures, lichen plain outer set, outer faces, plain no characters.Buy a pictureStark and unadorned — unadulterated, unadorned, just the simplicity and honesty of the stones.
3 pictures: 3 trilithons and their outer, rougher, less worked faces. The outer faces tell a long unfinished story of tool marks and raw stone.
Under the disguise of lichen are the original tooling lines, made more obvious by careful studio lighting.
T1 and T2 outer faces are south facing, sun-bleached; T4’s outer face north, damper and richer in flora.