Thursday 14 May 2015

Creative nourishment - May

I treated myself to two days in London so I could find nourishment for the ideas in my head. As spring has advanced, the murmurings of my winter mind are starting to find a voice. At the forefront of these ideas are a wish to embrace colour. With that is a return to a love of folk art and a symbolic expression of the soul. My soul.

I have found my way back in to nature, planting my garden and meandering in the woods. My work has often included trees and it is to trees I am returning for inspiration. At the weekend I was fortunate to visit the Weleda gardens. It was a beautiful fresh spring day and I could feel the sap rising in the trees there, and in myself. It is that connection between us and the trees, the 'tree of life' that is a symbol of many cultures, that I am exploring in my new work.

So, with those ideas in my mind I headed to the Victoria & Albert Museum to explore their collection. I've been visiting the museum since childhood and there is magic in those rooms of beautifully crafted artefacts.




I spent hours drawing from the collections, recording decorative details and symbols of trees and growth and shared a connection with those makers who had drawn from our shared symbolic language. 




Whilst there I had the opportunity to attend the Alexander McQueen retrospective. Not usually drawn to fashion couture, this exhibition blew me away. The creation of the exquisite and the totality of McQueens creative vision was hugely inspiring. It was beautifully curated, sensory exhibition. What I take from the exhibition is to honour the urge to create and to nurture my creativity and creative voice.

So back in the studio this week, I'm working on vision boards and bringing together the threads of ideas so I can start some new work.





If you would like to share a day with me creating with symbols to represent the universal themes of growth and life, I'm running a 'Grow your own art' workshop on Saturday 27th June in Long Eaton near Nottingham. It will be about finding ways to move forward on your creative journey and you will create your own work of art that symbolises growth. I'm taking bookings now. 



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