Weaving walls

I have often blogged about how much I enjoy weaving and for sometime, I've been thinking about ways of representing the contours, colours and textures of the hills all around me here in the Cotswolds.

Through weaving, I find I can explore fine gradations of colour and texture and portray the shapes and contours I see in landscape. (Just at the moment, these undulating contour rhythms seem to crop up in all my work in one form or another).

When I was away in Scotland, I spent much peaceful time weaving samples and then a small (11" x 11") abstract panel - a monochrome exploration of the creams, beiges and pale golden browns of the stone.

Here is the small wall piece - not yet finished or mounted but off the loom.

The piece was woven in many different yarns - cotton perle thread for embroidery and crochet, silk and wool to give raised texture and to offer a nod to the lovely, richly-coated breed of Cotswold Lion sheep that live in the fields.

The warm, gently coloured stone walls meander all over the hills around here, especially on higher ground. Some are tall, complete and well-maintained, enclosing large parks and beautiful houses. Others are of great age and tumble gently into the fields, covered in ivy and nettles.

The stone was used to build our house and is in the walls in our garden. It is very much a part of my everyday consciousness and I have had this piece in my mind for sometime.

The weaving may become a larger piece next or perhaps I will turn my attention to the colours of the grasses and wild flowers... time will tell.