Colour Alchemy (a forensic approach) 29.09.22

17 degrees centigrade cloudy early on, sunny later ~ felt more like mid~summer.

Guest artist: Jacqui Symons

During the introductions Lesley reminded us that the date was the festival of Michaelmas and therefor according to folklore the last day of the year to pick blackberries before the devil spits and pees on them! So, ten of us set off on the usual route along the canal tow path picking berries as we went, marching up the track that leads to Thwaite House Farm, pausing to take in the view of morecambe bay before squeezing through the old stone stile. Crossing two grass meadows and ascending the hill to reach the gate stile that opens into the woods.

Having spoken with Jacqui earlier in the month I realised if I’m ever going to achieve a RED dye bath I would have to be prescriptive and request that we forage exclusively for hawthorn and crab apples leaves for the dye pot.

So we wandered through the pines towards the path leading out of the woods that’s lined with hedges laden with hawthorn berries and crab apples. 

We foraged for a while then sprawled on the grass in the warm sunshine and I made a tea from hawthorn leaves and a few sage and verbena leaves from the garden. 

Jacqui gave us each a small hand made concertina book to record marks/pigments/thoughts and I handed out envelopes I’d prepared earlier containing fragments of text to create some random poetry.

We all ‘lucky dipped’ some words:

(Inspired by Thomas Berry & Basho)

Goose grass will forever feel moving

in a place of sweetness:

they’re only an ending-

fibrous awe used up.

The wandering, 

freshly beetle together 

below blossom.

Presence entirely nourished,

purely, once again,

data a while…

Together for the leaves

radiance I beheld!

We are oak - 

every season abandoned footsteps.

Numinous being in our sacred earth,

taking into the macro

silent performance

between companions

we return

to connection. 

We found an abandoned camp fire and used the charcoal to make marks. 

It was a day of care, attention and creativity 

This is the colour extracted so far from the hawthorn and crab apple leaves - the reddest tone so far