The seasons have turned once again, leaves are colouring, wind is blowing apples from the trees and flocks of birds dance in great tumbling patterns in the sky.
I love watching flocks of birds, pirouetting in the sky, flying in and out of visibility. In this area we get the starlings – small to huge flocks of starlings creating spectacular murmurations. The starlings are currently migrating back to Somerset, flying in from Scandinavia and small flocks dance above hedgerows and fields.
Earlier this year I created two willow forms which were inspired by starling murmurations, one of these (‘Flight’) has been on show at the Travelling Lines exhibition at North Wall Gallery, Oxford (organised by Oxfordshire Basketmakers) – the pieces cast great shadows adding an appropriate extra dimension.
So the gardening calender has turned a page, most of my garden harvest is in but not all – I still have tomatoes on the vines, leeks, parsnips, celeriac, beetroot, chard, salads, etc… There are plenty of flowers still in the garden too. It will soon be time to think about harvesting natural materials for weaving with, I have orders from Somerset Arts Weeks and am impatiently waiting for the Virginia Creeper to drop its leaves as I have a commission involving its long flexible tendrilled stems and it is a great opportunity too to tidy up this unruly plant.
In the studio I have been working on ‘final issue plans for construction’ for an exciting project in Devon whilst smaller projects have been, and are keeping me busy too.