Seasonal Altered Box

A voyage of discovery

Welcome to my wee corner of Substack. I am a seasonal artist living on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. I am the custodian of approximately two acres of land that includes a woodland, a meadow and my wee garden. I offer a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers if you are interested and you can read more about that HERE. Grab a cuppa and lets delve into our relationship with the shifting seasons…..

I also run a seasonal creative community over on Patreon and we are about to begin year 3 of this project. This space is more community focused as we get together regularly in zoom for classes and creative cafes. This summer we have been working on an altered box project taking something that would end up in the recycling bin and turning it into a work of art.

Continuing my deep love of rambling roses I decided to use a dog food box and take the theme of my studio. I am passionate about creating spaces that speak well to our creativity. My studio overlooks the garden with a huge window meaning that I feel I am in the garden rather than inside a house. I am also right by the front door which is usually open most of the year.

I wanted to turn the box into a studio space that was deeply connected with the outside and, in particular, the roses that take such a special place in my heart.

We began by creating moodboards to get their thinking going. I covered my box very roughly with handmade paper so I could have a surface to paint on. I then decided the best way forward was to take the box apart to make the job easier.

I painted what would become the interior very roughly with a suitably seasonal colour pallette. I found a wee desk in my daughter’s old dollhouse that would be perfect so painted that.

From that point it was all about bringing the outside in with hand painted garden plants, paper and fabric roses and pressed seedheads. I made a series of tiny books and built a wee shelf and also popped one on the desk. Bit by bit it started to come alive and felt like a place I would love to be.

Quite late in the creative process I decided to plant the box in a zen garden as I have one in my garden and sprinkled dried rose petals from my garden leading into the box.

This was a wee gem of a project but it was only when I took the photo looking through the box that I realised it reminded me of my late Grandmother’s sitting room. Isn’t it finally how memories can be echoed in our art work without us really noticing until it all comes together? I had some found poetry on the lid of the box -

‘The story so far…

Wild dog rose blooms

the stars of the summer garden.

Hidden roses, glorious scent.

Stop and smell the roses.

Twist past to present,

reclaim enchantment.’

I couldn’t have put it better myself…..