Textiles?!

Just reminding myself that I have made some textile things over the past few months! I've made a few laundry bags for various babies and a wall hanging. None of these are particularly 'arty', but then why should they be? There was definitely pressure at art school to be 'arty' and ''conceptual', and I've found it very difficult to shake this feeling off since graduating. I find myself dismissing ideas because I don't think they're creative enough and worry about other people looking down on me for what I make. Is there anything wrong with being 'stitchy' or wanting to make a cushion cover? Isn't is these kinds of things that earn money? I wonder if the Orla Kielys or Cath Kidstons of the professional world ever felt like this, or if they just went for it?!

Saying that, I do miss the studio space and creative environment of uni. It's not that easy working in a small spare room, cutting your fabrics out on the floor and using the bed as a table extension. I guess even Orla and Cath started out somewhere...

Stitched lights

When I was looking over my photos from the weekend, it really struck me how much some of the lines of light looked like stitches. I don't know why the photos turned out like this, with dashed lines, and I guess my embroidery background makes me tune in to things like this. The variations in colour, weight of line, density of the marks etc are all things that I would consider when drawing and stitching, and I think these photographs really lend themselves to the possibility of being recreated in fabric and thread. (That's not to say that I will... but the potential is definitely there!!)

Fuzzy light

It was getting pretty dark when I was out in the park at the weekend, so I started playing around with the light from all the residential areas around or near Kings Park. I think the trees give a sense of the scene in these photographs, but the movement of the light and the lack of focus add quite an eerie feeling. With the top two photos in particular, there is a painterly quality to them - I can imagine them being done in chalk pastels, brushing and smudging parts to achieve the haziness.

Kings Park

I was giving my studio a clear out today, saw a ray of sun outside so grabbed my camera and marched off to the park to get some exercise and photos. By the time I got to the park, the sun had pretty much disappeared again and light was fading very quickly. This made it dificult to get any good, in focus shots, but there were a few blog worthy ones in there.

Walking home from work

These aren't exactly the best quality photos I've ever taken, but they are a lot more spontaneous than usual. I particularly like the squiggly bits of light!

Tree outlines

Having decided to carry my camera around with me more often, I took these photos today on the way home from town. There is something a wee bit creepy about bare trees and the shapes of the branches, but also quite beautiful too.

Snow day

I've been itching to get out in the snow with my camera over the past week, but have been working most days. Apparently even outdoor clothing shops can have snow days though, so today I got out at last! The snow was fairly deep in places, and seems to have been causing chaos on the roads. Having spent over an hour digging my car out the other day only for it to be completely snowed back in this morning, I can certainly see the positives and negatives of this weather. There is a definite 'Narnia' look to this much snow - particularly in the trees. It was great to get out today and take some photos. One side of the sky was full of beautiful colours, while fog was setting in on the other - making for some more atmospheric scenes. Hopefully I will be able to get out again soon!

Early bird catches...the sunrise!

One advantage of getting up early for work is seeing some beautiful sunrises from my window! I like the bare trees and the phone wires, which make the images a bit more interesting than just the outline of the houses.

Pampas Grass

This pampas grass is great to photograph, as it is a very striking plant. I love being able to take a really sharp photo of something like this, capturing the texture and detail, but I equally love trying to create something more atmospheric by playing around with the focus and light. (Hope that doesn't sound too arty farty!)

Leaves

Autumn in Scotland doesn't have all that much going for it - with more rain, more wind and turning even colder than the summer. But days like today make it all worthwhile, with the sun shining and some great colours in the garden. I particularly love the various shades of red seen during Autumn (on leaves, conkers etc) and always feel inspired to dye my hair a similar colour around this time of year!