There's a moment in early spring when everything is just beginning - not flowering yet, but definitely. giving it some serious thought - and personally I find it almost more exciting than the blooms themselves. I've been out this week collecting spring shoots, looking for basal leaves, stopping every few steps because the shapes are extraordinary right now. Everything is an invitation.
πΏ Nature Notes The hedgerows and verges are full of the most beautiful emerging forms at the moment, things that look architectural one minute and impossibly delicate the next. These are the basal leaves - the first leaves that grown most wildflowers. They usually form tight spirals, broad flat rosettes, and I've been out today obsessing, because this window is short and I don't want to miss anything. It's also the time when I start to see the first shots of some of my favourite wildflowers - garlic mustard, stitchwort, all the different umbellifers. Plant blindness is a term coined by botanists in 1998 which describes the way many of us simply see leaves and grasses as a green screen, behind the action. I dive into the green and breathe it in, looking at plants, trees, leaves and shots is one of the greatest pleasures of my life! Some of todays treasures are pictured for you above.
βοΈ From the Studio I've been up to my elbows in dye this week, preparing paper for this weekend's foxglove and cornflower class. There is something so satisfying about watching colour bloom through wet paper β each sheet comes out different, and I love that. I'm teaching foxgloves at Zantium Studios in Derbyshire this weekend (there are a couple of spaces left!) - a day is not long enough to colour and dry the paper so I lean into abstraction with the colour of my foxgloves:
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Come Find Me
At Hannah Nunn's Studio, Hebden Bridge Saturday 16th May Β· Hannah Nunn Studio, Hebden Bridge Hannah opens her studio one Saturday a month, making it cosy, getting everything out on display β and sometimes she invites a maker friend to come and show their work too. I'm thrilled to be that maker friend in May. Hannah's work with light, paper and botanical forms is extraordinary, and if you're anywhere near Hebden Bridge, this is a visit worth making. β Plan your visitβ
Form & Freedom: A Wildflower Workshop Tuesday 20th May Β· Studio 3, 3 Wood Street, Hoylake Β· Β£95 A whole day to slow down and really look. Together we'll explore three iconic wildflowers (poppies, wild roses and daisies) not chasing botanical perfection, but celebrating their structure, shape and colour. Rather than following a strict formula, I'll be your guide as you observe, interpret and make something that's genuinely yours. It's a new way of working, and I think you'll love it. β Book hereβ
More dates for your diary
- Wirral MakeFest (The Finale!) - Saturday 25th April, Birkenhead Central Library Β· FREE β wirralmakefest.orgβ
- Wirral Open Studio Tour - June 13 - 14 across the Wirral β wirralarts.comβ
- Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair - 19β21 June, Sport Central, Newcastle β greatnorthernevents.co.ukβ
The shop is always open β if this week's dyeing has put you in the mood to make something beautiful, you'll find botanical kits and supplies waiting for you.
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.
Form & Freedom - just five spaces left....
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