a letter to a friend

I sat in my studio thinking about you this morning. I thought about your comment "shaking Winter off"... as I mentioned hibernation and nesting both came to mind. Preparation in different forms.
Of course there are always elements in the studio to move around, prompt, group, draw - photograph.
The nest was given to me as a gift from a dear old friend at the opening of my solo exhibition"Of Earth and Soul"  in 2010. It is a wrens nest carefully crafted with sticks, moss and sheep fleece.
The little nest half way down is needle felt it came about from a needle felted ball that I made during my show "of words and stitch" in 2011. When making the hug tokens in February this year I cut one in half and discovered it was hollow so it seemed obvious to needle felt it into a container, a little boat, a nest. It is Buchon de Cher a springy type wool. The outside has a Hebridean fleece needle felted as a sparse layer. The oak leaf is one I collected last autumn from an oak close to the studio.
As I sat in my studio this morning I thought what would we do if we had to make nests - what would we create them out of - I was thinking both in making an object de art and the concept as an analogy. I really wanted to paint but found myself dreaming of making an object. A lacy interwoven nest with sheep fleece and strips of paper - with written words a long. A sophisticated crafted wonder... But instead of making it a jewel I wondered about sitting where I was at the table in front of the windows and just making a nest out of things I could reach? Discarded paper on the floor, string, some scraps of fabric, pinku fleece, cushendale fleece... so the process started. I unwrapped the wrens nest to remind myself of what an amazing artist nature is. I keep it in that very bright pink tissue paper in a box that is the perfect size for it. I started photographing it and that always leads down a side track - a fruitful one usually.

Yes that is a bicycle wheel behind it... my studio has many curious things in it. This morning I enjoyed quiet solitude writing, shaping, making and photographing.