My work is inspired by trees, their forms, their history and the influence that humans, animals and natural processes have in shaping them; in the way they provide a solid representation of time. Old trees are time made wood.

I aim to capture their essence and energy, transmitting this life force through my artwork. I’m particularly interested in the old and broken ones whose stories are written in their forms. An ancient oak may have lived five centuries before the moment I draw it and continue another five centuries after I leave - ‘tree-time’ is very different to our own.

I work outdoors and the studio, foraging for images amongst the trees, connecting with individuals through my drawings and transforming those intense visual memories into studio pieces. Bodies of work form around themes which chime with my own human experiences: veterans adapt inventively to their wounds and phoenix trees symbolise a hopeful resilience in the face of adversity.

My process feels akin to sculpture, carving out contour lines, adding and erasing deep layers of charcoal, scraping and wiping oil paint to reveal light and form. My paintings explore the sensual, expressive qualities of the trees I find but are still very much grounded in close observation. Drawing is always at the heart of the process. 

My charcoals play with ambiguity, blurring the boundaries between tree, figure and water, allowing the viewer to make their own meanings. I use random marks and textures when beginning a work to provoke pareidolia, enabling me to suggest on paper the complexity I see in life.Charcoal allows me to express both subtlety and dramatic contrast as I move between light and dark towards the powerful chiaroscuro I strive for.  There's also something poetic about depicting living wood with its carbonised self.

Ultimately my aim is to make art which encourages us to really look at trees, to acknowledge and appreciate them as life forms which are a vastly different to, but no less important than ours, and to reflect on our own lives having learned from them.

Tansy Lee Moir

Tansy Lee Moir is an artist inspired by the forms and stories of old trees. Her art encourages us to look at trees in new ways and to think about our ancient, layered relationships with them as living organisms. She works in charcoal, pastel and oil and teaches drawing online and in person. 

Originally from Matlock in Derbyshire, she gained a BA(Hons) in Three-Dimensional Design from Manchester Metropolitan University. Following three years working as a puppet maker and performer, she moved to Edinburgh to practice as a Community Artist and studied Community Education at Post Graduate level.

For 25 years Tansy used art and creativity as a medium to support marginalised communities in community development projects throughout Central Scotland. In 2008 she set up her studio in Edinburgh’s St. Margaret’s House to focus more fully on her drawing and in 2017 she moved to her studio in South Queensferry, where she now works full-time as an artist and art educator.

Since 2011 Tansy has exhibited and curated around Scotland and beyond. In 2015 she was commissioned by South Yorkshire Biodiversity Research Group to work on ‘Tree Stories’, an Arts Council England funded project in the Peak District examining tree carving and graffiti. In 2016-17 she was artist in residence at Howden Park Centre, Livingston, collaborating with poet and photographer Steve Smart to produce ‘Drawing Breath’, inspired by Calder Wood, West Lothian.

She curated ‘Grown Together’ in 2017 at St Margaret’s House, Edinburgh, which brought together the work of 20 artists and makers for whom trees were central to their work. In 2018 she collaborated with artist Anne Gilchrist to document Dalkeith Old Wood, Midlothian, with its nationally important collection of ancient oaks, publishing ‘Dead Wood and New Leaves’.

Her most recent solo exhibition was at Linlithgow Burgh Halls in 2022. In 2023 she was artist in residence at The Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford and will complete a commission residency at Marchmont House in June this year.

Her work is in private collections around the UK, Europe and the USA.