I'm back. Six days away in Scotland followed by a nine-hour drive home, and this newsletter is arriving a little later than usual. I hope you'll forgive me. I'm still easing my way back in, but Scotland was spectacular, and I have things to tell you.
πΏ Nature Notes
Plant blindness is something I think about a lot β a term coined by botanical educators Wandersee and Schussler in the late 1990s to describe the tendency so many of us have to look at a hedgerow and see green. Just green. A backdrop, with no distinguishing features. Most of us were never taught to look, to distinguish the shapes, to learn the plants. And if we're not looking, we miss so much. The soft carpets of spring green moss, perfectly complemented at this time of year by the rusty bracken. Seams of contrasting rock β slate and quartzite - running through the hillside, the first celandines opening in the sunshine like little spots of pure gold. Trees which fooled me - bare branches swathed in great skeins of lichen, the softest cyano-green glowing against dark conifers, catching the very last of the light. I thought it was blossom β but, no, not blossom, lichen. Scotland has been the most magnificent antidote this week. The more we practise really looking, the more the magic reveals itself.
βοΈ From the Studio
A few days in Scotland has meant time to think, piecing together jigsaws, walking in all the weathers, and quietly working out the patterns and techniques for my Fritillary class (which went ahead yesterday with spectacular results! Any future classes will be detailed in this newsletter). I've also given myself permission to draw with a pen rather than a pencil. Bold lines, none of that tentative smudging I always seem to get with pencil. I'm enjoying it. Maybe Iβll share some with you (when Iβm ready!).
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Come Find Me
Form and Freedom Tuesday 20th May Β· Studio 3, Wood Street, Hoylake An invitation to slow down and really look. Using paper, we'll explore a selection of iconic wildflowers, and make our own paper versions. The difference: this class is not about chasing botanical perfection, but celebrating structure, shape, and colour. Your creativity, my guidance. Five spaces left β full details here.
More dates for your diary
πΏ Wirral Makefest (the last one!): 26th April, Birkenhead Library. Free entry, great fun.
πΏ Guest maker at Hannah Nunn's Open Studio:16th May, Hebden Bridge
πΏ Wirral Open Studio Tour: 13β14th June. Over 100 artists opening their doors across the Wirral - full details here.β
πΏ The Paper Garden Masterclass, Keswick, Norfolk - 18β20th September. Dive into autumnal botanicals with us! Six places left, both two and three-day options available. Details and booking here.β
πΏ Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair β Newcastle in June (19-21), Manchester in October (16 - 18) π
The shop is always open β Paper Wildflower Craft Kits make such a lovely gift (for someone special, or honestly, for yourself). Browse the shopβ
And if you'd like to read the full Scotland dispatch β the lichen tree, the slate pools, the chaffinches and the swans β it's over on The Paper Wildflower this week: thepaperwildflower.substack.comβ
Until next time,
May is when the hedgerows begin to fill and the summer season gathers energy. Iβd love you to come and look at the flowers with me.
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