Wild flowers in the Field Book - finished!

 Finished the wild flower side of the Field Book. Cow parsley, cowslip, speedwell, ribwort plantain,

 vetch, pineapple mayweed ( a type of Chamomile) daisy,

 buttercup, dandelion,

red clover. There are many more but that is all the space I had!
We had a wonderful day out yesterday at Slimbridge WWT. We saw kingfishers fishing. No pictures because my camera doesn't do zoom close up but very exciting because we had really good sightings. They are nesting in a bank opposite to the kingfisher hide. The picture below is from Zeiss hide - there are avocets in the water there but you will have to take my word for it.  We also saw a spoonbill and heard a cuckoo. My cup overfloweth.

Wild flowers of the field margins.

 I thought you might like to see the field margin where these wild flowers are growing. What a perfect time of year!

 Cow parsley, cowslip,ribwort plantain, vetch and mayweed.

Field book- artists book.

 Back to the field book and the other side of the concertina. For pictures of the Winter side click on the label below. I made a pouch to keep the book in. It will have to be expensive so nice to have a bag to keep it in and for traveling to exhibitions.

 On the other side of the book I am drawing the wild flowers found in the margins of The Enormous Field. This is where the wildlife is found.Although I did see a Muntjac deer go into the oilseed rape yesterday. Good cover until it is cut. The larks must be nesting in there too.

 I started with cow parsley that is a wonderful margin plant. It leaves a lacy edge to all our lanes and no wonder it is also called Queen Anne's Lace.

Yesterday I drew cowslips. Quite a few about now but they must have been more numerous when country people made cowslip wine. I guess this side is Spring because I am drawing what is growing now. Perhaps I can follow that with a second book of Summer and Autumn in the Enormous Field.

winter field book finished and a new piece begun.

 The winter field book is finished ( I think.)

 As it is long these two photos show the front pages

 and the back pages.

 This is the beginning of a new slow stitch piece with threads. It is a map of the enormous field from above with a further field behind. The red stitching shows the original pack horse path, still a bridleway and official footpath. There is going to be lots of stitching on this for crop lines, unofficial paths and hedges. It is 3 layers of soft fabric - grey linen and tablecloth underneath all secondhand and well washed so delicious to stitch in its softness.

Winter Field Book Covers.

 As it has been so Spring like (back to Winter now though) I thought I should push on and finish the Winter Book. Here are the covers. This one on the front is a mini version of a larger piece I sold last year that started off this whole body of work. I was experimenting with loop stitches, which I hope to continue with, and thinking about the walks around the Enormous Field. You can spot the gates into the field (top right and top left) Bottom left there is a small tunnel in the hedge that all the walkers use. A desire path i.e. not an official footpath but one that people have created (see Robert McFarlane books for these useful landscape words)

 The other side has a tiny landscape on a scrap of indigo dyed fabric. This is the Lost Hedge in the enormous field. More about that to come in the future. I am aiming for 10 pieces to go to the Quennington exhbition but will continue with this theme of documenting our nearby fields.

I made the tie with a blue scarab beetle and a glass leaf - now I have to put it altogether.

Field- Winter Book

 I am working on my next concertina book to accompany the exhibition- 'From where I'm standing' at Quenington in June. It will be in the Pool Room and part of the outdoor sculpture trail. Which is always fantastic and in a beautiful garden beside a stream. There is an entry fee but worth it for the stroll around the garden alone.

 So I began with a cool wintry blue and am building up the images and textures.

 A mixture of painting, drawing and stitching into the thick base paper. Sparrow on the twigs in the hedge. Field and crop lines.

 This leaf is the crop growing in the field at the moment- oil seed rape we think, must check. Looks like a cabbage leaf and the texture is like crumpled tissue paper. Looking closely at the veins, they are like field patterns.

Yesterday I did some printing to vary the mark making. I used the leaf and a piece of scrim ( loosely woven muslin ) I thought it would look like the ragged winter hedges. It is thoroughly absorbing and great to play around with ideas and techniques.