HOLIDAY NATURE SKETCHING

We've just returned from our winter holiday to Tenerife where we stayed at Puerto de la Cruz.

I made a new sketchbook in preparation using one of my little weavings as the cover.  I took a small watercolour tin and collapsible brushes in a pen case with various pens and pencils with the intention of keeping things simple.

We had an apartment on the third floor of a block built into the hillside of the town with fabulous views towards Mount Teide and the sea if we craned our necks over the edge of the balcony. This meant that we were level with the treetops and had a ringside view of the parakeets as they came to feed on the nectar produced by the flowers of the coast coral trees.

They arrived in gangs and spent a lot of time squawking to each other as they fed then suddenly one would give a big shout and off they all went to find some more juicy flowers elsewhere.

The garden was filled with wonderful plants and trees and as this one was directly in my line of vision from my sunbed it was easy to draw as I listened to the birds singing in the afternoons.

Looking beyond the tree I could see an apartment complex across the road with fascinating architecture.

When we walked around the town I found lots of different seed pods to gather to draw on my return, luckily I always carry a plastic bag to put them in.  These large pods are incredibly hard, almost like wood and the pink peppers are fragile but very tasty!

We visited the botanic gardens one day and I was able to sit and draw this interesting specimen, tucked among the other plants which were much too complicated to add.

I took plenty of photos of the trees and the barks in particular as I want to make some textile art pieces inspired by the textures which are very varied.

Everywhere you go on Tenerife there are Bougainvillea plants in all shades of red through pink to purple and I just had to pick a few to include in my journal.  I learnt that the coloured part is a bract and the actual flower is the tiny white frill on the stem in the middle.

Mount Teide was ever present in the distance though often shrouded in clouds in the afternoon.  The best time to see it was morning when the sun shone and you could see the greens of the hillside in front and a few wispy clouds floating by.  At dawn the snow reflected the pink of the rising sun.

I started to use my multicoloured pencils in the third week and it's surprising how a change of medium can loosen up my drawing.  I had a lot of fun capturing the palm trees in the nearby park as well in the hotel garden.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Tigaiga suites and have already booked to return next year when I'm hoping to find more interesting things to draw in the hotel gardens .

 

A YEAR OF WEAVING

It's more than a year since I reported on my weaving exploits so I thought it was time for a catch up.

Weaving has become a passion for me and I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can interpret the things I see into woven textiles. 

This cushion for my granddaughter Steph's birthday last year was inspired by her geological slides of rock formations which I have already drawn and machine embroidered in previous years.

Kirsty, my eldest granddaughter, was setting up home with her partner Barney so I decided to make them some special place mats for her birthday. The words are their Instagram hashtags and they loved them!

Youngest granddaughter Sarah is a nature lover so her cushion depicts her beloved trees.

My sister Juliet came to live in France last year so her birthday cushion was designed to go with her new red rocking chair.

I have a subscription to the Weavers, spinners and dyers journal and some of the articles are very inspiring, the one about Saori weaving in particular caught my eye.  For this process the idea is to weave using a variety of different textures and making it up as you go along.  I used the colours of my garden as inspiration for this cushion starting at the bottom in winter and going through the seasons right to the walnuts near the top.

Living by the sea is wonderful and every time we walk on the beach I come home with a head full of ideas and this method of weaving lends itself perfectly to these wavy lines.  This was daughter Joanna's cushion this year.

Last year I made Jo a cushion to go with the new sofa she planned to buy for her renovated kitchen.

Just for a change I had the idea of making covers for the cute tins our tea comes in that are far too nice to throw away.  I had a lot of fun working in the strings of beads I acquired in a charity shop at Christmas.  The make lovely pots for pens and crochet hooks too!

This year I made Kirsty a cushion cover inspired by a sunset at sea.  She had taken me on a virtual tour of their new apartment and I spotted that her bedroom was decorated in burgundy and gold colours so I came up with this design.

I knitted the throw in the background using more of my yarn stash, lots of fun working diagonally and knitting in each square as I went along.  It's very cosy with a black velour backing.

I made myself a new shoulder bag from an old plain one with a weaving using some of the lovely blue yarns in my collection for the front.

Steph asked for a bag as well to use for her shopping trips to the local farm shop and I was delighted to make this using some fabulous wax print fabric for the lining.

This wall hanging was inspired by the ripples left on the beach when the tide goes out and I have incorporated some shells gathered on the shoreline.  They are attached to the yarns using a hot glue gun.

Well that's all the weaving so far but I have been experimenting with tapestry after buying an instruction book a couple of months ago.  I'll share what I've learned with you next time.

By the way, apparently Blogger is changing how you get notified about my blogs and in future I think there won't be any email notifications so you'll have to keep an eye out on Colours in the Breizh on Facebook instead. 

A bientot!