Teasels in Stroud

As I explore further for my black and white Cotswold and Stroud pieces, I've gone back to a photo I took of teasels early last year and to a drawing I made of a teasel head on a workshop soon afterwards.

For those who don't know about teasels and their relevance to the Cotswolds, they are extraordinary plants which grow in summer here in the UK. Their seed heads are large and crisp to the touch and are covered with hooks to help with seed distribution. They are to be found in hedgerows and on field edges all through the autumn and winter and seem to stand up to the worst of our winter weather. They can often be seen standing tall surrounded by snow.







Their interest for me, apart from their appealing shape and texture and their resiliance, is that they were used historically in the textile industry and especially in Stroud to raise the nap on fabric - and particularly in the case of the Stroud factories - to raise the nap on the red wool cloth that the town was so well-known for.

I have included here a page from my large sketch book showing the drawing of a teasel I made on the workshop and some tracings. The drawing was made in black Quink ink, mostly with a 1 inch wide hake brush - sometimes using the wooden end rather than the brush itself as it seemed to record the character of the teasel stalks better.

The tracing I took of the stem (on the left) was then turned through 90*. 

I also traced and interpreted the seed head and then photocopied several versions, laying the tracing over the top each time.

Then, following the lead from The Crafty Mugwump in her latest post (thank you Pam), I inverted the colours in Adobe Photoshop - more contrast.





This was all great fun to do ... and has now prompted some more fun and games. More of that in another post ...