Botanics - Kibble Palace

Kibble Palace (one of the greenhouses) reopened in 2006 following a multimillion-pound restoration. It lends itself well to photography, with lines and shapes created by the impressive iron and glass structure, and is one of my favourite places to visit in Glasgow. I particularly like the top photograph, with the contrast of sun and rain, glass and iron, and the sense of looking in from the outside.

Botanics - secret staircase

In one of the greenhouses, partly hidden behind masses of leaves, is a beautiful spiral staircase. I assume it is used to gain access to the tops of the plants, but it's like finding a stairway to a hidden world, and the wrought iron is a beautiful contrast to the surrounding jungle. As it's so hot in the greenhouses, the lens on my camera steamed up, creating the effect in the final photograph - I think this just adds to the other-world feeling!

Botanics - leafy greens

While looking around the greenhouses in the Botanics, I found these leafy plants growing up towards the ceiling making it quite jungle-y. The sun coming in through the windows highlighted the variations of green in the plants as well as the different, overlapping leafy shapes, which contrasted with the lines of the window panes. I'd really like to be in the position where I could visit the Botanics regularly to see how it changes throughout the year.

Drawings and stitch work inspired by the Botanics

These are a selection of drawings and stitched samples that I did during my college project in the Botanics. At that time I mainly used fineliners and watercolours, but also experimented with other mark-making techiniques, including hand and machine stitch. I think these pieces of work are good examples of my style - delicate and subtle - and my interest in the structure and details within flowers.

Botanic Gardens - flowers

While the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow may not be as extensive as Edinburgh's, it's still pretty amazing and is home to some beautiful flowers, plants and buildings. These photos were taken during a project I did at Cardonald College a few years ago. I was really attracted to quite structured flowers, but focused on bringing out the more delicate side of them through looking at the level of detail and more subtle colours within the flower.

Glasgow structures

These photos were taken along the River Clyde in Glasgow. Silhouettes and reflections seem to be a recurring theme in my photography! From the top - Finnieston Crane and Clyde Arc Bridge (or squinty bridge as it's more commonly known), the cranes at the shipbuilding yards in Govan, and the Science Centre and Glasgow Tower.

Glasgow sunrise

I took these from my window in Glasgow, looking towards the city centre. I think the colours are amazing, emphasised by the dark silhouette and dramatic clouds.

Reflected trees

I actually took these photos a few years ago when I was living in a second floor flat in Glasgow. The sun came out after a heavy rainfall, so I started playing about with taking photos of the trees through the raindrops on my window. I opened my window to take some more photos and saw that the outside of the window had an amazing reflection of the trees. So the top two photos here are actually of the window pane rather than the actual trees! These are some of my favourite photos that I've taken - I just love them!

Night trees

These were taken in Stirling back in January. There was so much moisture in the air, without it actually raining, I was soaked by the time I got home! This tree was covered in droplets of water and the street lamp behind it lit it up perfectly. It's a bit spooky looking, but beautiful too.

Piccadilly Gardens 2

The sun was in front of me when I was taking these photos so made some great silhouettes. I love the feeling of fun and joy that can come from someting as simple as water! I'd really like to take some more spontaneous photos like this.

Piccadilly Gardens

I was sitting in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester a few weeks ago and took some photos of the fountains and people running through them. It's great to watch - if you sit long enough you can work out the cycle of the different pumps and see people getting caught out!

Degree show!

These are photos from my recent degree show - with 3 blankets (2 of which were suspended from the ceiling) and a couple of samples. It works really well together as a collection, with beautiful colours and fabrics, and intricate details in the techniques, complimented by simple compositions. Fabrics that are usually masculine and heavy, become feminie and delicate while retaining the tactile nature of tweed.

Beaded deers

This sample came about as a result of some Photoshop experiments. I liked the idea of having a row of deer with one facing the other way, highlighted by using different colours and with beading rather than Cornely. When thinking about a context for my work, I'd decided to look at interiors, given the weight and tactile qualities of tweed. I developed some ideas for blankets, focusing on quirky embellishments, bright colours that complimented the tweed, and keeping the patterns simple.

Developing samples and ideas

I experimented with different weights and textures of tweed, as well as with techniques and combining images. I like the level of detail in the pheasant sample, but felt that I wanted to persue the more linear samples on a bigger scale. A lot of this year at uni was about trial and error, finding out what worked well and making decisions about which ideas to develop further.

Sparkly deer

I really love the aesthetics of these samples - with the very traditional, subtle colours of tweed given new life by the addition of sequins for the antlers. The sequins were individually sewn on, combined with Cornely and hand stitched outlines. I think these samples really convey what I was trying to do in terms of combining traditional Scottish fabrics with unexpected and bright embellishment, making for quite a bold statement!