eco dyeing

Ever since I was a small child I have loved  flowers.   Newly married  we walked along the Cornish and Pembrokeshire coastal paths identifying plants and birds as we walked. Now with more time to pursue the things we both love doing perhaps it isn't surprising that plants and birds have re entered our work.
My sketchbook continues to fill up with mark making in response to bird song heard on and around the croft and Paul has been able to capture a few of the birds in his photography. You can follow this work on the web site under the bird song gallery page.

The summer has also been filled with experiments in eco dyeing paper and fabric and Paul has been documenting some of the plants I have used from the croft. This image of devilsbit scabious is a favourite.

The dyeing process onto paper has taken over my life and our kitchen these last two weeks and an installation of the pieces will be photographed over the winter as part of our ongoing collaboration. We are both excited to see where this project will take us.

We have gone cuckoo here !

silk and velvet devore stole

Our photographic and textile work arises from all sorts of starting points. Every so often we decide on a theme and both begin to produce work "in conversation" with one another. Currently that work is centred around the phrase "bird song", as I explore making marks in stitch and paint which respond to specific bird calls. Mourning the departure of the cuckoo at the end of June I began working with the visual and audible material related to the cuckoo. Paul was wondering where the choice would take him photographically when we had two days of amazing sightings from our window, overlooking the croft. A cuckoo - just fledged, flying past the window flanked by two smaller birds. Then this morning there was our young cuckoo being fed by the parent birds as we watched and held our breath as Paul rushed for his camera .

What an amazing time we  had, we wanted to share the images with you. We think the parent birds are a pipit - but are not sure, so if you know please tell us !

 The inspiration for the themed work just went through the roof this weekend !!