Chapter 8: The Mighty Douglas Fir

Paying tribute to the mighty Douglas Fir in what we call the 'Secret Garden' ('Secret' because it's a long, narrow, fairly dense stretch of garden, to which entry is gained through a clearing leading to what feels like an entrance gateway guarded by two large pine trees; like entering a hidden, 'secret' place. Probably also romanticised memories of the book...).
Difficult to do justice to this magnificent tree in a photograph as it's not possible to stand at a sufficient distance from it to capture all its grandeur.
It took me considerable time over the summer to find a way properly to connect with this Douglas Fir. And by properly I mean adequately, to do it justice. 
I am in awe of its size - height and girth - and of the beauty of its bark, the latter of which initially led me to considering exploring the bark texture using clay in some way. The danger, of course, was that this would be too close to what I'm seeking to do with the Redwood Imprints (The Redwood). I also felt that introducing a 'foreign' material would do neither the material nor this particular tree proper justice (powerful though clay can be). 
I forgot to mention that as I have passed beneath the Douglas Fir over the years I have loved the pine cones that are scattered over a huge radius beneath it. So, one day, the solution seemed so obvious: do something with the pine cones ...
So: 

The tree

And the fir cones

I went about gathering them up from within a fairly close radius and brought them together directly beneath its canopy, radiating out from the base of the trunk.

After the first session

After the second session, with the cones from slightly further out; cones now reaching right up to the fence and the beginnings of a meaningful shape/flow forming on the ground

After the third session, with cones from the outer perimeter of the canopy radius; having cut back a couple of the overhanging branches from a neighbouring magnolia on the left to allow more light in on that side

And some further images just to indulge my enjoyment of all this textural beauty:  

And this is how it's looking at the moment; Nature playing its Autumn hand! I shall clear the leaves once we've moved a little closer to winter and pick up where I left off. Lots more Douglas Fir cones freshly blown down by the recent strong winds ...