blue in the snow..

blue woad cloth out in the snow

something new and still the same…

 

…new work, and yet a rhythm, a continuation… The leopards bane is full of energy, a golden buttercup and kingcup yellow – a ‘Leo’ colour and life….

Last year I was observing the bees visiting and thoroughly, carefully working over the flowers.

The cloth is the solar dandelion dyed from this post here

 

Playing with woad silk background… natural dye is so subtle, it changes in the light.. and a background that enhances it can be a challenge to find.. I will make squares, in a 9 patch and see what happens..

This year it is the butterflies I am watching – more of that later

 

dandelion..

Walcot Chapel working studio week with the Bees Knees

gathering dandelions for solar dye

 

the jar was so warm to hold – alchemy…

vibrantly singing colours

rosemary cloth

October last year – a solar dye experiment.. Rosemary gathered from a friend’s garden and then solar dyed. The sun wasn’t powerfully strong but it’s light was enough – a sun moving towards the shorter days, lower in the sky, precious in the Autumn

I have been stitching small studies on soft warm pale yellow cloth.. remembering, as is the nature of this aromatic plant and its mythology.

 

Fledged..

There is intense bereavement. Numbness…

This week solace began through some slow stitch. A calming ryhthm again – if heard so quietly, less than a whisper.. but a felt sensation

These little birds are nesting in the eaves under the roof again.

The frame is the winding thread that wraps the tibetan incense we burn, the fracture where the thread does not quite meet barely glimpsed but highlighted here.

 

Winter Solstice 2015

Winter Solstice – precious daylight and an honoured long night… A time to think of peace and connection, the rhythm of our world, and wishes and hopes and the strength of togetherness …

Solace – a project by India Knight

Have a look at this post by India Knight

Is it fluttering there still, my pennant – together entwined with others from around the world and gently moving in the breeze? I look out across the sky tonight …

(..thin cloth from an almost exhausted indigo dye bath embroidered with a single word in french knots – a stitch which for me which is about my language to represent prayers / thoughts)

Where next?…

Another spell working at Walcot Chapel this week with some artist friends. See Kay Swancutt’s post here

I have been preparing today. Some fine woven washed muslin in a dye bath of turmeric and tea. That fragrance filled the air again all around and through me it seems, and I decided on the warmth of sunshine and buttery golden yellows as the seasonal changes are on my mind..

One of the special qualities of Walcot for me is the volume of space filled with light streaming in through the windows. So why not use this to explore working on a large scale – beyond my reach – so that the cloth surrounds me and the stitching needs my whole body to move.

The cerise pink muslin was chosen for me by 2 of tomorrows friends and it seems a joyous addition.

I will thread 2 needles and work left to right, then right to left – stitching both left and right handed ( I am a left hander but I use both and teach using both). Will rig the cloth as high as I can.

I have my yoga mats to lie on as a contrast to standing – maybe I will place them under the cloth so I can look up at it – I will wait and see what happens.

 

 

 

 

 

Nature in Art….

Inside Out – the Brunel Broderers Exhibition for 2015 at Nature in Art

My Outside work…

In the garden the white withies stand tall as natural guardians – a thread wrapped around the slender top of each…

The turmeric and tea prayer flags … sending out messages of peace and hope..

The woad fading to palest blue in the rain and wind …

Some little film clips to follow soon… and a post about the inside work too!

 

prayer flags in a bluebell wood…

The film is made and it is time to share it and talk a little about my approach to my film making..

I want to capture and share what I call ‘ephemeral fragments’ – seeing a flowering bluebell wood is, for me, a truly magical breath-taking experience which is all the more precious because it lasts for so little time. I wanted the prayer flags to become, for a few moments, an integral part of such beauty and to send out their messages of peace drifting through that atmosphere.

My film-making processes are simple. I strongly remember a special family gathering in Canada with my grandparents and all the family when I was 4 (the week of my 5th birthday) and the home-made cine films we watched together – the laughter, the comments, the stories – and the projector, the screen, the spools of film (at one point spilling onto the floor) …

I like the raw presence when I work of evidence of me behind the camera – the slightly shaky quality that I as an amateur bring – it is reminiscent of those cine films.

So – here it is. It will be part of the Brunel Broderers Exhibition Inside Out at Nature in Art from 11 – 31 August (though not available to view from Thursday 20th and starting again on Tuesday 25th)

Prayer Flags in a Bluebell Wood

PS – Click on HD for best quality!

rose petal prayer flag…

Working on a prayer flag at Walcot Chapel. Torn strips of turmeric and tea dyed silk organza hand stitched with french knots

In my stitch language french knots are thoughts – like a prayer bead felt between the fingers.

The flags – and there are now almost 100 including the blue woad ones – are stitched onto withies – so pliable and supple dancing in the breeze

We were brought a beautiful bunch of flowers including roses which filled the air with scent – what a gift to bring! And so – as the petals gently drifted onto the tablecloth I gathered them to stitch.

A handful of petals..

Drifting in the breeze – https://vimeo.com/131747643

rose petal prayer flag from Susi Bancroft on Vimeo.

 

 

This week a little flag in a posy with roses and rosemary – remembrance