We went to this special garden yesterday and had a good visit. The light moves across the lake throughout the day and into the garden itself in the afternoon. It highlights what I want to sketch and photograph through the light and how it moves. I am only just beginning to understand this! I used some soft pastels that I have and my trusty 5B pencil. I like how you can lay down colour really quickly with the pastel and use pencil for more definition mixed in. These sketches may be stand alone responses or become embroideries or paintings. Will just have to wait and see. Nature teaches and teaches and we see better through drawings.

Here are some drawings and photographs made the other week at the secret garden in the Lake District UK that I visit. The lake was like a mirror in the morning as the dawn broke and I saw ducks flying low over the lake with their reflections in perfect reverse. Mesmerising. Then two fighter planes split the sky. They often fly through the lakes and mountains to practice manoeuvres. It brought home how fragile peace is even in a beautiful place like this. Worrying in these times that we are going through. I find myself wondering how much these fighter planes cost and how much each flight! I understand it’s an official secret how low, high or fast they can fly. I went to the garden yesterday and had a very good day there before the weather broke. Will post some shots of that in my next missive. Meanwhile enjoy the sketches I made on the first visit. I also did some light pruning of shrubs and roses. I try to give back to the garden when I take from it by drawing…

Here is the back of my embroidery which is messy! I almost like it more than the front and don’t want to ‘neaten’ off threads. This is how it is and is kind of part of the whole meditative experience.

Here is my dawn cloth with latest stitching efforts. It is more of a meditation really so it doesn’t matter how long it takes. It’s been months on and off. A friend brought me some more embroidery threads, especially the blues.  which I was grateful for. I hope to do such creative work with the sexual abuse survivor workshop participants which I have discussed on here. The touch of the cloth and threads really brings you into now. The stitching feels like breathing as the thread goes in and out. Someone even said I could frame it but then you wouldn’t be able to touch it and that is what I want even when it is ‘done’, Though I don’t know when that will be. The back is a mess but I quite like that and will share some shots soon. The lady who brought me the blue threads said the back should be as neat as the front! That is the old way, but I want these embroideries to be whatever you want them to be, there are no ‘shoulds’ or ‘ought toos’! That’s the whole point! There is real freedom here. No other peoples ideas for motifs or how to do it or approach it. This is truly personal…