A seasonal creative nudge

All things roses - my working process

From the moment I decided that I wanted to become a seasonal artist my creative process changed. Gone were the days wondering where my art would take me next. I could rely on Mother Nature to give me continuous nudges for which I will always be grateful. June on the island has been a mix of warm and wet so growth has been vigorous and the roses have made the most of it. The wet hasn’t been so wet that their petals turn brown prematurely. The dry hasn’t been so dry that their roots have baked. The beautiful roses have woven the most magical tales this seasons and given me the best creative nudge I have had for a while.

I expect that I am the same as many artists as I have more than one project on the go at the same time. However, because I am responding to seasonal nudges all my projects get a scattering of roses. My art journal is the place I usually begin my creative journey as it grounds me. You can read more about this process in my piece on January Journaling. From there I feel grounded in the subject matter and able to move on. My patrons and I spent our spring developing a ‘pattern book’ and I am continuing this process for the remainder of the year. The idea is very simple you just capture patterns that you see in the natural world. We made our pattern books out of recycled materials and somehow the music paper and the art seem to blend together.

I lost a dear friend this week and she loved June and roses so I have made a tiny concertina book so that I can record my special memories in it. I will take my time with this project. Lastly, I had a commission from a bride to make two art books so that she could record her memories of her special day in them and gift them to her bridesmaids. The book has pages in decreasing sizes so that the inner memories are her most precious. I had already sent her tea stained papers cut to size to write her memories on so once the books arrve she can stick them in.

So, in a short week my wee rose collection came together and some of it will stay with me while other pieces are off on their travels. Meanwhile Mother Nature will be getting ready to nudge me again. My studio looks out over my garden, field and out to sea and I can already see what seasonal shifts are emerging but I am happy to wait until one rises to the surface and dictates my new direction. My homage to the beautiful rose.

Update on my book making idea

Thank you to all who have commented and messaged. I am launching my wee book making space on the 1st July here. I will be sharing exactly what it is about and also what it is not about so that folk are clear. This piece today is quite a useful steer and everything created either made a book or a page within a book so I hope that is helpful.