Its winter now

Winter made its presence known this morning. Gruffly whipped Autumn's mantel from the trees like it was being too decadent and had partied to long. All of a sudden its dull, grey, stormy and cold. 

But I beat winter I am capturing Autumn in the studio, remembering the riot it caused and how it made my heart sing as I drove the back lanes as I whittled by the streets, gardens and villages into cities. Yesterday in my parents garden I gathered some Liquid Amber leaves, grown for its wonderful colour this year it sang and radiated. I'm working on the layers of colour in felt and textiles, I like the idea of using pinned layers, so individual cobweb felt pinned for framing or perhaps some light stitching felting... experimenting the colours make my soul sing even with winter howling at the door.

Leaf motifs have long been a favourite and while I may not make leaves (yet) the semblance is there. If you are on Pinterest you may like my Leaf Motif board with great inspiration and making from illustrations, textiles and paper.

This work ties into a project I did five years ago for a school around a 'Poet-tree'. At the time I wanted to make leaves with each of the children but it was too much work for no funding, the project may be revived. 

In my personal arts practice the leaf motif that presents itself in paintings like 'Being doing' or 'Conversations' represents change and I have blogged about it before. 

Not that the work I make in the studio needs to be linked but it tends to be and often the links are part of my creative process, so to the studio... looking forward to the lightness of the fleece and experimenting.