Eventide

I'm back with a new tapestry artwork and for the first time ever it's... circular.

 

"Eventide"
Handwoven tapestry
Materials: cotton, linen, rayon, wool; woven 8 warps per inch on cotton warp.
Size: approx. 2ft (61cm) diameter

 

"Eventide" is about seasonal transition, nature cycles and changing quality of light. It marks the end of a day, the end of the season of light and the beginning of the season of darkness.

 

The idea for this artwork developed from a late October walk along the Sand O' Wright beach in Hoxa when I could sense a change in the air and quality of light, in turn affecting the tone and intensity of colours within the landscape. I always enjoy how sunsets take on a wild shade of orange-pink by the end of October in Orkney; it feels very particular to that time of year and marks the beginning of the darker months ahead.

 

(detail)

I spent ages exploring this idea of transition and the flow of nature cycles through reflected light (sunsets) on water and wet, rippled sand but nothing really clicked until it dawned on me the artwork needed to be circular. 

 

(detail)

 

As a side note, people visiting the gallery often ask why I don't create any circular artworks as my Mum often created circular artworks and quite honestly, other than being a different person and artist, it's because I've never felt a reason to do it. In my artistic practice the idea dictates the shape, size and medium of the artwork and up until this point I didn't have an idea which demanded to become circular. Nobody was more surprised than me!

 

(detail)

 

 There are some shimmering blue and yellow rayon threads in the mixes which catch light beautifully and (hopefully!) add to the feeling of watery, shifting light. 

 

Now that I've completed my post artwork admin I'm looking forward to spending some time outdoors collecting and working on some Spring/Summer research as I'm ready to leave Autumn/Winter behind. I always love seeing all the wildflowers popping up on my coastal walks at this time of year. It won't be long until the seapinks come out. Fingers crossed for some good sketching weather! 

In progress...

While the weather was dark and grey at the beginning of this year I was preparing to be bold with colour...

 
My current artwork in progress has some some pretty wild colour blends. It has been a refreshing change of palette as I have largely been working with soft blues and neutral sand tones for the last couple of years. 

However, despite the brightness, there is still a lot of subtlety going on here. I've begrudgingly come to accept that complicated, subtle tonal blending is "my thing."

I'm now moving into turquoise-blue tones and on the home stretch. I had hoped to have had this finished in time for the gallery reopening at the beginning of April (our tourist season runs from April- September) but there was so much admin/prep needing my time and attention that I barely got near artwork for most of March. I have to keep reminding myself that I can't do everything.

Stay tuned for the big reveal, hopefully not too far away!