In May 2021 I was awarded a grant from Arts Council England to develop my creative practice. This funding gave me time to focus on my true passion - wild flowers. Through the wildflower project I hope to inspire the viewer to look more closely at our British wildflowers. I aim to do this by building botanically accurate wild flowers, where necessary at an enlarged scale, using crepe paper, wood and wire. I also explore sustainable crafting materials and techniques. We live in a time where 'anything is possible' - in my world of arts, crafts and printing, I have often found myself thinking that just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD. I am particularly focused on two areas - eliminating the use of plastics in my arts practice, and exploring and developing the use of natural colour.
coltsfoot
rosebay willow herb
daisy
My creative practice focusses on three main areas:
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the challenge of upscaling my botanical sculptures
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the use of colour and pigmentation, producing pieces coloured using entirely natural pigments, taken from my local environment - this is a challenging yet incredibly satisfying aspect!
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investigating alternatives to glue, with a view to reducing the plastic used in any part of my work to as close to zero as I can. I currently use PVA (tacky glue) and a little hot glue. I hope to find an alternative which does not compromise the structure and stability of my pieces. If anyone reading this has any suggestions or knowledge about suitable alternatives please get in touch...
...I LIKE TO LOOK CLOSELY...
...look REALLY closely. Look at the flowers on the wayside, the flowers on the verges, in the meadows,
on the forest floor. What do you see?
I see amazing design, unparalleled beauty. However, sometimes, the details are so small we can't REALLY see it. I want to bring these wonderful little flowers to you in a different way. My paper recreations of wild flowers are often super sized to reveal the astounding detail the eye can't see.
Below, a blackberry blossom - simple and seemingly insignificant when spotted on the bramble vine, hard to reach and difficult to pick because of the thorns, this little blossom won't amount to much in an arrangement and won't last more than a few hours before loosing it's crumpled petals. But look closely and the level of detail revealed just in the centre of the flower is astounding.
As you go through the slide show, double clicking should allow you to go through the images at our own pace and there are additional image descriptors.
