The moment

There has been so many demands on our time and energy over the last months that already we are in the middle of July.  I feel a need to slow down , take time to reflect and so have decided now is the moment to fulfil a dream of really studying hand embroidery. I stay motivated when I have small  defined steps and so am joining in with a weekly challenge of learning or experimenting with one stitch a week at "Take a stitch Tuesday" You can follow the teaching resources and my own  efforts here or on my pinterest board https://www.pinterest.com/heronscroft/take-a-stitch-tuesday/

week 1 Fly Stitch
I sat in the orchard and marvelled at all the different grasses. So using a piece of vintage cotton |I had rust dyed I tried to replicate the forms just using fly stitch.
I felt very rusty myself hand embroidering ! But time seemed to slow and I enjoyed the process. I was reminded of the quote "The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

Henry Miller

So I gave the piece a title "the moment"

the rocks beneath our feet, the trees that surround us

Study nature. Love nature. Stay close to nature.
It will never fail you
~ Frank Lloyd Wright ~

I love this quote by Frank Lloyd Wright. One of the huge benefits I have gained from studying a fine art module for my textiles degree is the space and permission to be still and draw or paint my surroundings. We live in the most beautiful part of the world but life here, as for everyone else, has its fair share of stresses and deadlines. So time to stop and draw and really appreciate where we live is important for me. For Paul he is learning to slow down his process and ways of being a photographer. Great result in its own right, but also what has emerged from these past two months is a new collaborative venture - photography and textile design based on the rock formations we walk over each day and the Scottish forests we love. The new collection of fabrics is with the printer now and will be made into Infinity Scarves available in local galleries and at our online shop here http://www.studioinscape.com
We are really excited - each scarf is a one off design because we felt each tree and rock drawn and photographed is unique. Do hope you like the idea as much as we do.

"the days betwixt "

We like the few days betwixt Christmas and New Year's Eve. There is a quietness, almost a relief. Walking and  watching clouds and water with camera and watercolour box to hand, trying to capture their transient beauty . Walking in the woods, sketching and watching the birds feeding or hiding amongst the tangled undergrowth has provided space before the work of next year begins.  Paul and I have been very aware of the preciousness of our time together this year and have enjoyed sharing some of our thoughts and work with you here and on our social media sites. The web site has been updated today and space made for new work to arrive onto it when the holidays finish. We wish you all that is good for 2015 and look forward to sharing the journey with you.

Winter lines

 As deep Autumn travels into Winter I have enjoyed the emerging stark lines - bare branches, dying bracken, skeletal seed heads and grasses. A favourite walk with the dogs around Laide Woods feeds my soul all the year round, but especially now.

 My latest sketch book is filling up nicely with lines and shadows. A new body of work in embroidered lines is taking place.

In the long dark evenings I have been enjoying the textured lines of crocheting a new blanket for the cottage.

context

We have just enjoyed a lovely week in Dorset, time to recharge the batteries and time for reflection.

Dorset with its famous Jurassic coastline and rolling chalk downs, its hidden villages nestling in valleys and beautiful trees. A very different landscape for us and a different pattern and sense of community and everyday life.

A visit to the sub - tropical gardens at Abbotsbury was inspiring. Leaves were falling in these first days of Autumn, I picked up a few oak and eucalyptus leaves and took them back to the cottage.

I had already enjoyed browsing the Vintage market in Bridport and bought lovely pieces of linen and cotton textiles. Time to steam the leaves in the cloth along with plants found in the hedgerow beside us. A lovely way to imprint a landscape in cloth and into my memory. Textiles carry so much meaning - the hands and skill which created them, the beliefs of a people, the colours and marks of a landscape, the reality that so often the textiles were used to clothe a body or to adorn a dwelling. Now we are back in the mountains of the far north and the winds are blowing and Autumn is well underway here. A perfect time to create a Bojagi cloth with my Dorset textiles adding stitch, my own marks onto a landscape which offered us rest and peace.

bojagi wrapping cloths

After the sneak peek of using eco dyed fabric last week - here is the finished article and my first textiles video ever !

Fencing and fabric - a synchronicity

When we took on a croft eight years ago that had not been worked or looked after for decades you wonder where to start ! Fencing is an annual job as we replace rusted barbed wire with Paul's wonderful rail and post creations. Not exciting ? well to me it is when lovely old hinges off broken gates become available.

The cotton fabric was fetched and with a spray of water and vinegar added, the cloth was carefully wrapped around the hinges. The fabric created is just wonderful.

When used alongside my eco dyed work I am very excited about a new range of textile pieces being created for Studio Inscape's shop. To create fabric with marks from the croft I live on and love is the best kind of diary keeping I can imagine.

Here's a sneak peek at the first piece just finished !

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 !!

Summer fun

Well fun in the sun has really  been happening - even here in NW Scotland ! Lots of time to work together has been a real treat. we have a newly designed website here:
http://www.studioinscape.com/
Please pop by and leave us your feedback.

winter trees

I have neglected the blog for too long having been caught up in writing up work for my degree over the start of the New Year. Paul's photography goes from strength to strength and he has caught some lovely images over this winter. My own work is more like the bare winter trees, a time of new life gathering pace underground. I have spent 18 months on the watercolour and drawing work and it has been a steep learning curve. I am so looking forward to seeing how it translates back into my textiles this coming year. In the meantime enjoy the shape and intricacy of this tree.

2014

happy holidays !

Autumn is in full swing here and I do enjoy bringing a few berries indoors whilst leaving the rest to feed the birds. Here is a watercolour of our wood burning stove which will get lit in the evening, but i the day time the berries add the red glow and warmth to the kitchen !

Aspire magazine

It was nice to see this piece featured in this month's Aspire magazine.

directions

I always work like this - a lot of quiet time and a bit of messing about as new techniques or thoughts are explored and new directions considered. It is always the transition from that into new work that means I have to take a deep breath and just "do it !" Process is a fascinating thing and so different for each person.

Braque

It is good to be asked to look at work that may not have had instant appeal to me - like Braque's art of the 1930's. But the more I studied his art and life this week the more interested I became . And it made me paint a study of a fruit bowl in his style  using watercolour to see what would emerge. Lesson learned, don't just glance and walk away but take time to get to really know a subject or an artist.

trees and rock

I had been studying Cezanne's still life work for my degree but when I cane to do a tree and rock study in watercolour it looks as though he is my current muse !

75 days - 75 sketches

There it has been for years - a desire to draw and paint - not just in textiles but with pen, paper,canvas, watercolour etc etc and very very slowly the desire has seen the daylight -  I was so moved when I heard David Hockney talk of his need to draw every day that I realised that if he needed to do that then so did I !
So   I decided to join this challenge of only using a pen sketch something every day for 75 days. And here I am on day 45 - trying to limit the sketch to 5- 10 minutes - fast and loose and fun ! I thought seeing my scribbles might encourage everyone to have a go - make a mark in life !


Sketches in London

  And then a sketch in Oxford.....

And finally a sketch back home !

Spinnaker Tower

I liked the contrast of texture and form - tower against the Portsmouth clouds.