Colours in nature

Colour is getting to me this Spring. I don't know why this year in particular, but I seem to be noticing the way colours are reflected off the landscape and wild flowers, my attention is constantly being diverted.

When we went to Llanberis I was really drawn to the scars in the rock face where they are quarrying the slate. The contrasts between the fawns and greens of the moorland and the grey slashes, then the bright yellow of the gorse, I'm finding really absorbing. It is making me want to go into the dyehouse and start trying to reproduce these colours and contrasts on my yarns.

Looking at this lump of slate (it was like a standing stone just outside the museum) the weathering has created so many different veins of colour from almost white to yellows and rusty browns as well as the many shades of grey!

Normally when working with the natural dyes I am producing replica colours for different periods of history - so modern fashion trends have never featured in my choice of colours. (I do wonder sometimes whether I should go and check out what the "next season's colours" will be from the fashion designers, but theirs and mine are never going to look the same - well not until I've got them all convinced that thay don't want to be using anything but my dyed cloth!! - so it becomes a bit irrelevant.) I guess I'm going to be going my own way as normal this year - but it all might be a bit different, I don't mean all dull and muted so much as different contrasts and unusual mixes!

My friend Helen produces the most fantastic felted pictures using naturally dyed fibres, my favorites are always her waterfalls - there is so much motion in them and definition, so here's a new idea! I'm calling it slatefall!

I love the stillness of the rock as opposed to the wild crashing of water, which is my usual choice, but there is still a movement there!

Spring in the valley

We decided to take advantage of the sunshine today and went for a walk. We went up Lady Bagot's Drive, so called (by repute) because it is the back road up to Pool Park the N Wales home of Lord Bagot. It is said that Lady Bagot used to come down here to meet her lover........

How it actually got it's name is irrelevant really, but it is fab for a good walk. If you do the whole thing it is probably 6 or 7 miles, but you can change direction in various places so we took a slightly shorter route and probably did about 5 miles.

The start of the drive, off the main A525 is over the "Bridge over the river of blood" so named because a man died in the river during the Civil War. The walk takes us along the river Clewedog following it back upstream.

The water is really clear at the moment, there has been rain recently (so the track we walked on was quite muddy) but the river looked gorgeous! In fact it was so inviting that David decided to try it out!

When we first moved here the boys (Huh?!) and I used to come up the drive most days - sometimes with the ponies but frequently with a picnic and towels and they would have a play and splash in the river. There is a part that is channeled off and the water is deeper and still by the side of that channel - almost like a mini swimming pool, as we are all quite strong swimmers, it was never a problem, they never went without me though!

The wild flowers alongside the track were beautiful. I remember at school in the summer term we used to have a "wild flower" competition and had to collect and name as many as we could - stars being awarded for various numbers (I have a vague idea it being something like 25, 75, 125) I can still name a few, but most have slipped from the memory - I will dig out my book and look them up. The colours are so fantastic I've been inspired to do some reproduction work in the dyehouse! Perhaps I should name a colour collection after the flowers - I obviously won't use the flowers themselves to dye, it wouldn't get me very far, but the names, well they're romantic aren't they - and have an historic slant! A friend is often asking me to dye "Columbine" colour!

Talking of flowers my dye garden is coming along well! Here they are - my 2 Weld plants. Self seeded of course and could they have chosen a better place? I guess not! Have to be careful when we move the gas bottle now! Maybe it won't move for quite a while! This is just outside the dyehouse door, and I've no idea what is in the black rubbish bag - probably sawdust as it is also just outside John's workshop too! There is also masses of nettles and Lady's Bedstraw not far from here - but cultivated plants, not a chance!