It’s so much easier to be cheerful on a sunny day isn’t it? We’ve had some beautiful weather recently and I’ve been enjoying spending time outside in the garden and down on the beach. I try and go for a walk everyday and I find that when the weather is as lovely as it has been I want to go for a fairly long walk each day! I’m happy doing the same walk each day as there’s always something different to see or hear, especially at this time of year. As well as being great exercise and getting me out in the fresh air I really appreciate the thinking time that walking gives me. This month I thought I’d share with you how I go about creating my wildlife portraits and how my walks are a part of this process. You can see a selection of my wildlife portraits in my Folksy shop and I also have an exhibition at the lovely Eskdale Muir Community Hub in May (don’t forget to check opening times before travelling and check and follow all current Covid-19 rules!)
I find that when I’m out on my daily walk I can think more clearly, I wouldn’t say my mind stills but I’m able to think more objectively about things and I often find that I can resolve elements of work that I’m struggling with and come up with new ideas. I’m also really lucky that I’m able to spot lots of wonderful wildlife whilst I’m out and about on my daily walks. Recently I’ve seen a fox down by the burn, lots of sightings of roe deer and of course lots of birds. All of these sightings and experiences feed into my work and I find my main problem is deciding which sighting or idea I’m going to use next. I have a very long list of pieces I want to make, some clearer in my mind than others. Occasionally the process is quite quick; I see a particular species and know how I want to portray or capture that spirit in my work and I get in the studio and start creating more or less straight away.
Usually, however, it’s a much longer process and each piece will go through many stages and re-imaginings before it is completed. All my work begins with observation; watching and looking at the landscape and wildlife around me and noticing how different creatures react and respond in certain situations. If I’m lucky I can sometimes capture photographs and quick sketches and these are really useful for the next phase of working which is the drawing stage. At this point I start trying to capture more detail such as markings and patterns as well as posture and composition. Generally I’ll make a number of drawings and sketches trying out different compositions until I capture the effect I’m looking for.
The next stage involves selecting my fabrics. Recently I’ve started using some of my eco-dyed fabrics in my portraits (fabrics that I’ve coloured naturally with different plants, many of which I’ve collected whilst out and about on my walks.) I’m really enjoying using these fabrics as I love the direct connection with the landscape (the cloth is actually coloured by material from the landscape) as well as the subtle tones and textures that natural dyeing and eco-printing gives. Finally, I use stitch to bring all the elements of the portrait together. I use my sewing machine as a drawing machine, I love the fluid lines and textures that this creates. My portraits are often then finished with a few hand stitched touches before they’re mounted and framed, ready to fly out into the world.
I hope you’re all enjoying the nicer weather and I’d love to hear what wildlife you’ve been spotting! I look forward to sharing more new work with you next month!
Helen
