Sycamore Gap tree commemorated on used teabags

An artist has painted the Sycamore Gap tree in different settings on used teabags to mark a year since it was felled.

The famous sycamore was cut down overnight between September 27 and 28 last year, sparking national outrage.

Caroline West, 50, from Waterlooville, in Hampshire, said she was “devastated” when the incident occurred.

She said she wanted to pay homage to the “iconic British landmark” by painting it during different seasons, as well as at night and “against a sunset sky”.

In order to make her teabag tributes, Mrs West begins by drying out used teabags, cutting them up, scraping out all the tea, and ironing them flat.

The edges are taped, the teabags placed on backing paper, a base layer applied, and then acrylic paint used 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.

She said: “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 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.”

The artist added: “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.

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

Mrs West has been painting landmarks on teabags since August 2023, including Stonehenge and Tower Bridge.

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

She added: “I sold one teabag of Durdle Door which someone bought because that’s where they had their first date and they proposed to their future wife there.

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