Arbour

This is a strange time for me, leaving behind the Earthworks project, which has dominated my life for the past two years.  But all things must pass, so I am now starting to work my way back into a theme that has been running in the background for many years.

The importance of trees to the life of this planet is immense and certainly gives me much scope for creating an interesting body of work. I will post, at irregular intervals, images of some of the work that emerges over the couple of years.  And I feel that there may be a book in this too.  So, until my next post on this theme, you can imagine me talking to the trees to find out what they want me to know!

March 2023

Oak Tree Poem

I have spent some time over this winter making this large textile panel of an ancient oak tree, in response to a poem by Mandy Haggith.

oaks

eggcups propping up the pastry sky

now you're gone

there's nothing

to prevent

the clouds caving in

nothing to stop the fields flapping

This work is a bit of a departure for me, in that I used only recycled wool blankets, which had been bound up with leaves, boiled up in a huge pot over the bonfire and then overstitched.  I enhanced the dye marks on the tree surface by using a soldering iron.

This mighty oak panel stands at 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres and will be on display, along with work by other artists using a wide range of mediums, at Inverewe Gardens in the spring, and then at Dundee Botanics in the summer.  For more information, go to the Inverewe Gallery website page.

February 6th 2022