Winter Nature Walk

 Bright winter brings a strange architectural beauty to the landscape.

Spiky, flamboyant teasel heads dominate the marsh.

Outlines are more defined -  edges are crisp and sharp against the clear blue sky.

Oak galls resemble a structure of miniature domes.

Rose hip boughs form decorative arches, and geometric designs.

Even the ragged edges of the fallen leaves seem to create distinct  abstract shapes against the earth.

Looking closely at the natural world opens the doors to so much new interpretation...

Poppy Seedhead Writing folder

This is the second sample for my winter mixed media workshop, and it's very different from my usual approach. I had fun with this one!

 I wanted a particular effect,  which I could see in my head!  I drew a poppy head stamp and used Koh-I -Nor paints to stamp on the fabric. When dry I sponged and splattered the background so it would partly merge and cover the images. Then I took back some of the coloured areas with bleach. I free machined around the poppies and finished  the image using  a little hand embroidery. It was fused onto some hand dyed silk and a piece of vintage lace added for some texture/overlay.

Inside I used some of my naturally dyed cotton to line the case. An unbound strip of silk with more vintage lace holds the hand made notelets in place. They are made from recycling wallpaper lining paper, which has been painted and stamped with another poppy head image.

Finally there's a simple tie with painted wooden beads to finish it off!

Mini Art Quilt - Winter Melody

Last week I finished my samples for my mixed media workshop and they are now waiting to go on display. This is the first one, a simply structured mini art quilt  with a winter theme.  Loving seedheads as I do this was a great chance to use some of my favourite images.

I  made some simple stamps, then used a variety of of fabrics to show the effects  of the paint on different weights/types. I made pearlised paints to give a sparkle of frost and ice.

 

After preparing the fabrics and stamping them I set out the images in a collage, and then fused them to wool felt.

They were then re sectioned, simply embellished, using  a variety of  threads/ stitches and some beading, and  hand stitched together with a variegated pearl cotton.

Some are overprinted on already patterned fabrics -

some onto heavier weight linen, and  fine, hand dyed silk.

As the workshop is about approaching mixed media without the need to use lots of products and expense, everything was found in my supply stash and around the house. I do  feel that limiting yourself also extends your creativity. Having decided on my colour palette there were a few challenging moments -  which stretched me - but these were the things I liked best when I'd finished. What do you think - does anyone have any projects where constraints meant success?

As the Old Year turns....

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and creative New Year. I don't make resolutions, but I  think this quote says exactly what I would wish:

' Let our New Year's resolution be this:
We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.'

Goran Persson.

The first frost

The first frosty morning this year turned the world into a magical place.

 Mist over the rhine.

 Diamonds coating every leaf.

 Jeweled necklaces bedecking the hedgerows,

spider's webs and sparkling crystals creating beautiful sculptures of common hogweed,

and the wild rose stems.

Then the sun shone, and the spell was broken.

Bountiful September Mornings

Some sunny mornings this month mean more kingfisher spotting, and watching a poor buzzard being harassed by two magpies!  I spotted deer tracks by the rhine, but no sign of their makers. There's early autumn abundance everywhere,  with berries, fruits, nuts and seeds,  but summer is still holding on.

The scent of aniseed from wild fennel fills the air as you  brush past.

Summer flowers still bloom everywhere,  like hedge woundwort,

and golden melilot.

Common blue butterflies are enjoying summer's last fling.

 Berries,  berries everywhere! I think this is the Common Whitebeam, Sorbus Aria, showing off.

Meanwhile, the herons are catching plenty of fish!

And beautiful seed heads are appearing in huge numbers, including some of my favourites, Traveler's Joy,  hemlock and and common hogweed. They have such an amazing structure.