Earlier this year I saw an advertisement at a service station on the M1 about the National Highways’ “Lend a paw – Bin your litter” campaign. The picture of a red squirrel on the poster caught my attention because it was at that very same time, I had my “Erik the Red” series of red squirrel collages on display at the Yorkshire Arboretum, Castle Howard. I am a keen photographer and also a member of the Ripon City Photographic Society and for a long time, I have been using my photographs as inspiration for my artwork:




I then made contact with National Highways and asked if I could hopefully get involved with their anti-litter campaign. I mentioned that I have been litter-picking since early childhood and how bothered I am by seeing all the litter alongside roads. I mentioned after leaving service stations, I notice how there are many bottles, plastic bags and other packaging etc. strewn in grass verges alongside wild flowers. I produced these initial collages as ideas based on what I had seen, including plastics caught in trees and magpies in search of as much rubbish as they could find!


I was delighted to be invited to go on a litter pick organised by National Highways and Octavius Infrastructure. It took place on a section of the A1 near Wentbridge Viaduct in the area of Wakefield.



I then set about creating an intricate collage of “Hedgehogs on the Highway” made from all sorts of recycled materials, some of which I had collected on the litter pick. I was asked to include hedgehogs and am pleased that a donation for my artwork is being made to the Prickly Pigs Hedgehog Rescue charity. I have also been sharing this video clip of a hedgehog on social media to highlight the vulnerability of these small animals:
I used cut squares of crisp packets for the sky, scratchcards for the hedgehogs, old bits of fabric for the trees, pieces of newspaper and grey plastic carrier bag for the road, gold wrapping from chocolate bars for the field, a bottle lid for the moon and circles of plastic for the car headlights in the background. I combined all these man-made items with some natural, organic materials such as dried moss for the trees, pressed leaves in the foreground and cut squares of autumn russet leaves for another field.



The artwork was completed just in the nick of time to deliver to the Highways UK convention at the NEC, Birmingham on 16th October. I was delighted to see the collage unveiled by the CEO of National Highways. It was a very special event and has led to some national publicity and now being referred to as the “Litter Pickasso”!






Last week I showed films about my project for the anti-litter campaign, including the BBC Look North clip (see my Media page) when I visited my former college: Bradford School of Art. I emphasised the importance of doing our very best to recycle and re-use as much as we can.
This is particularly important in view of the climate crisis and with the latest UN Climate Change Conference COP29. I’m pleased to hear that the extended diploma course in art and design at Bradford College includes the topic of sustainability. I could see how focused the students were during my workshop with them and I was pleased they enjoyed creating artwork using materials that are normally regarded as rubbish!



