East Cowes Community Cart

Today I have been helping my good friend Dan Roberts (of wooden bicycle fame) with his most recent project - a community cart - ideal for picnics, tree planting and beach clean up sessions! Constructed from recycled plywood and my own home grown willow, the cart will soon have it's own wheels - hand made by Dan using his recently built pole-lathe. The making today was part of a Sustainability Road Show in East Cowes Town Hall with a great turn out and many interesting exhibitors and my own daughters Pip and Rosie lending a hand. See the full gallery here: Community Cart

todays basket

During a brief but rewarding scour of the local charity shops this morning not only did i find the most extraordinary stripy tailored suit with a metallic copper silken lining - watch out for that at the next exhibition opening if i dare! - but I also found a very nice shopping basket at the shamefully low price of £2.50. Here it is and I'm curious for any information about it's source. As the basketmakers among you can see it has a continental oval base, neatly slewed sides with flow inwards then out, a nice two bundle rope border and a skein wrapped handle. Quite a combination! Any ideas?

Red Sky, Red Soil, White Grass, Scented Myrtle....

Tonight I was out at dusk in one of my favourite Birch woods...ssshhhh.....not telling where it is....

.....the purpose to gather the last of the season's Purple Moor Grass - left any longer and the leaves become fragile, gathered too early and it's still attached to the plant and is less easy to harvest. As the UK's only deciduous grass it's nice to take advantage of it's leaf dropping properties by gathering simply by running your hands through the tussocks. You can see the gathered grass drying in my studio here: studio blog.

Tonight the wood was full of roosting Rooks worried by my presence and giving me a swift fly by, the sky was red and the shallow stream was brighter than ever with the special Iron fixing bacteria. I've gathered the Iron slime here before and it makes a strong painting pigment - perhaps I should try it for dying my basketry materials?

It's great to see the woodland being managed well to increase the marshy area and encourage many of the special plants that are quite rare on the Isle of Wight. Bog Myrtle, Hair Moss, Ling Heather and various sedges whilst common just over the water in the New Forest struggle to find acidic soil habiats on the island.

Below some pictures from the same spot last November, Bog Myrtle still in leaf and the Moor Grass only just turned and pretty soggy!

Basketmaking workshops on the Isle of Wight

Tomorrow, Saturday 21st January, I'm off to Brading Roman Villa on the Isle of Wight to teach basketmaking - we will be working with willow bark and rush to make little plaited boxes that can be used for all kinds of little jobs around the house. They are fun to make and offer a nice introduction to weaving with these materials and how to do the special 'bias' corner where the base weavers become the side weavers.

Next Sunday, 29th January, I'll be back at the Villa again and we will be working with lovely soft rushes and grasses weaving with the twining technique to make a variety of little rounded baskets and mats.

Details and bookings can be made directly with Brading Roman Villa.

Søre Skogen - days teaching in Norway 2011

Last September I travelled through northern Poland, took a ferry across the Baltic Sea and then drove through Sweden and Norway with my basketmaker friend Mai Hvid Jørgensen to reach Søre Skogen a beautiful farm and teaching place on the west coast of Norway.

Over the following four days I taught a course combining traditional basketmaking skills with the freedom and spontaneity that I have practised for many years in my creative practice. This combination of tradition and innovation provides a healthy and challenging pallette of techniques whilst gathering inspiration from the lush vegetation and natural forms of the surrounding countryside.

Today I have uploaded a new gallery documenting this week showing some of the participants and their work, materials and natural inspirations. During 2012 two more of my courses are planned at Søre Skogen - an outdoor painting and drawing course in May, followed by a basketmaking course in September. Course details, prices and dates will follow over the coming weeks on this blog and on the Søre Skogen website, however to whet your appetite i hope you enjoy the pictures here.

Work in Progress - Asante Sana Exhibition

This week I am making work for Asante Sana, an exhibition in Odense, Denmark, featuring a selection of baskets from Uganda and woven responses made by European makers from Finland, Denmark and England. Curated by Jette Mellgren the exhibition is part of a bigger project in Uganda celebrating and developing traditional basketry and interconnections with Europe.

The European makers featured in the show are: Anna Maria Väätäinen, Dorte Tilma, Anette Holdensen, Susanne Wittingham, Helle Baslund, Jette Mellgren and myself. We have each chosen a Ugandan basket from a large selection purchased by Jette and we are all making our individual and diverse responses. My basket is for collecting Dragonflies! These are gathered during the wet season and supply a valuable source of nutrition - it is a beautiful openwork twined vessel that has some very interesting details. Below is some work in progress as the work evolves and I learn more about it's construction.

Twining Iris leaves

Above twined Iris, below Esparto grass.

Off to the woods...

Such a mild autumn and winter this year - it's hard to believe that it has taken so long for leaf fall. Yesterday I took to the bike and went harvesting in the woods for whatever twigs look nice at the moment, I'll leave them for two or three weeks to dry a little then use them for a variety of trays, baskets and 'mountainscapes'. I came back to the studio with Birch, Larch, Willow, Elm and Soft Rush. Sweet Chestnut - thick grey twigs with distinctive lines running down the trunk bark from each bud.

Birch - beautiful reddish brown twigs with many branches.

Hazel - not with frost but with a fine downy covering highlighted by the sun behind.

Larch - fine, flexable and both scaly and knobbly with a yellowish tinge.

Willow - shiny, long and reddish brown with branchesat the tip.

My harvest - from left Birch, Larch, Willow, Elm.

Wayzgoose 2011 - pricing up my baskets....bargains galore!!!

We are well under way - getting organised for this Friday and Saturday's Christmas Fair 'Wayzgoose 2011' at JubileeStores. The floor is swept, the Christmas tree is on it's way and I'm pricing up my baskets and paintings - so here's the deal - I'm having a big clear out to make way for my next body of work over the coming months in my 'still feels like new' studio. So baskets will start from as little as £5 and paintings from about £75 upwards - so snap up a deal and as they say 'once there gone there gone!'.

I'll be making all through the event too so if your a budding weaver or just curious come along and I'll happily talk you through what I'm up to, and of course new works will be available straight from the maker's hand! see you there.....

Wayzgoose 2011 on Ventnor Blog

Just an update to say that our Christmas Fair Wayzgoose 2011 is up on Ventnor Blog featuring a gallery of my pictures from last year....see you there!

See the Ventnor Blog article here......Wayzgoose 2011

Wayzgoose 2011

Following last years successful christmas fair at Jubilee Studios, Wayzgoose 2010, we are now preparing for Wayzgoose 2011. All our studios will be open to the public alongside a selection of some of the best artists and makers on the Isle of Wight displaying their work throughout the jewellery and general workshop. Look out for updates on our dedicated facebook page.

I will be presenting a selection of recent work alongside a special sale of work made over the last couple of years - be sure to come early to snap up a bargain as I'm having a good clear out to make room for forthcoming projects! If you want a sneak preview be sure to keep an eye on this blog and you can see my studio work in progress on my dedicated Studio Photoblog.