Together. I bring ideas and set them down next to one another The way the ancestors would gather berries and nuts Sustenance Together. I invite friends to a room, to a table The deep old knowledge that tribe is safer Survival Ideas cultivated, grown and gathered Set down on a table to be shared. I have fed from others tables and now I am strong enough to set my own. The gathering is important I have been thinking of the word gathering for a while now as part of my practice. D

ThSeasons- on the cusp of summer. It’s mid May and we are having a cold blast- as if the last of winter is trying to find the window to escape and is bashing around. I am ready for the warmth. I do generally prefer the cooler months but what I am beginning to realise is that I like the seasons- I like the change from one to the other. In a few months time I will be so over the heat and the light I will be longing of the cool winds to return but right now it is the summer I am

A list of words that inspire me and form the starting point for my writing and creativity.

I see the glass surface, reflecting the sky, trees and birds beyond the garden where this glass house is. The wood and metal frame creates a limit to this imagination, I have reached an edge. The reflections are sealed within a frame. The panes of glass repeat, rectangles as if each one a painting hanging on the academy wall. Focus changes and inside, pots and leaves and stems. Greens and browns with the occasional hit if colour of a fruit or flower acting as an anchor point

The Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi formed quite a strong foundation for my practice when I read the book “wabi sabi for artists, writers, designers and philosophers” by Leonard Koren back in my final year of university, studying fine art at Bath Spa University. Bite sized ideas from that book can be found across my thinking. It was the first time I had experienced that moment of connection when reading something, the one when someone articulates something you’ve been thinkin

I keep coming across stories in English folklore of shapeshifting women. A witches ability to take on a form of an animal to serve a purpose. The idea of a witches familiar is a common one, the idea that a woman can form a bond with an animal that she feeds and nurtures rings true. The power coming from within the domestic setting. Shapeshifting takes on a new power and energy, to take on the form of something else not just have a close relationship. I wonder if it refers to

Glass Circle. A moon A portal A puddle A pond A well A mirror Magic. In the woods, discarded, what was once a table top I would presume. A large round sheet of glass lies flat against the undergrowth gazing upwards and out. We look down and in and up and out. As I came across it the news reached earth that the lunar mission was a success and here I was staring at my own moon reflecting the sky. The idea of discovery at the forefront of my mind. The sight was uncanny and magic

Oxford Day Out. Wonder of Birds exhibition. We had a family day trip to Oxford and happened across the Wonder of Birds exhibition at the Bodleian Library. It was an exhibition to accompany the work of Rob Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris. It was an inspiring exhibition to just come across and I feel lucky we decided to pop in. The exhibition was in a single room, atmospherically lit, and glass display cases around the walls. It started with the question ‘why do we wonder a

Walking as thought. One foot in front of the other, set the pace. A dawdle, a power walk. Meandering or directional. I’ve walked for pleasure for lots in my life. Over Dartmoor, along canals, over dales, along coastal routes and up mountains. I love to read about walking too. Adventures or meditations. I have just finished Postal Paths by Alan Cleaver, a lovely book that takes in various landscapes described along the postal service route. It made me think of learning the ter

Thresholds The trees are coming into leaf like something almost being said. Philip Larkin. This Larkin quote speaks to me about the beauty of anticipation that you get at the beginnings of spring. It's the same feeling for any change of season, when you are on the cusp of the next wonderful thing and you are at the threshold of the change. A collection of thoughts on the in-between, liminal, threshold spaces. That moment when you catch your breath between inhale and exhale.

The trees from your childhood still remember you. I wrote this down in my notes app whilst listening to a podcast. It’s one of those sentences that caught my imagination at the right time. Trees are makers for time and place, their stillness can reassure us of our place in the world and offer a way-marker for our own memories. They ring in the change of seasons and grow steadily that unobserved might not seem to change at all, so as not to overwhelm us with the short lived fa

I’ve always loved storytelling- listening to stories, passing on stories as well as making them up. Folklore and the old ways seem to have a seed of truth that when you look closely can offer you a guide through life based on where you are physically and metaphorically at any given time. For example folklore and stories about the rivers and mountains can teach us how to inhabit such spaces whereas other tales can offer moral or philosophical guidance for relationships and fam

“Hope is a thing with feathers” Emily Dickinson. This poem has been by my side for as long as I have been making art because feathers and all they carry with them have been a part of my creativity too. They are an anchor point to which I can return to before setting off on a new path. Finding a feather discarded on the ground still sparks joy and the need to pick it up and keep it as treasure. I have them dotted around my studio, in books, on shelves in bags. Feathers are ma

Describing my studio space

Thoughts gathered on taking inspiration from shadows for my May Writing Challenge

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