F I E L D  N O T E S

These images were taken from December 2019 onwards, they form a part of the documentation of my processes, sketches, test pieces, colour swatches and act as field notes and a diary from my ongoing explorations into the world of natural colours of my local area in Essex, UK. From foraging to planting my own dye garden, from ink making to textile dyeing and mineral levigating. I am keen to learn about the properties and behaviours and to get an understanding of what is a more sustainable path for finding colours from our surroundings and research possibilities on how to use these in photography. Some experiments have been complete winners, whilst others have failed massively. My curiosity is driven by endangered or lost folk traditions, the slow movement, and the desire to learn more and connect with the environment I live in, whilst hoping I can brush off some of the excitement of discovery to others, and start some skill-sharing and dialogue which inspire others to have a greater awareness and appreciation of the relationship between us and the habitat that surrounds us.

Some of the plant matter used and/or grown are, oak galls, grapevine, coreopsis, cherry gum, blackberries as well as canes, yarrow, nettle, gorse, estuary clay, estuary chalk, birch, Japanese indigo, Indigofera tinctoria, wild grape, willow, walnuts, beetroot, Blackthorn berries (sloes), dyers chamomile, poppies, cosmos, weld, woad, avocado, elderberries. As we are now entering autumn and foraging season is here, I will be doing more experiments with fungi pigments and dyes.

January 2021 this personal development project was being kindly supported by Arts Council England DYCP award.

A culmination of this research was an installation Slow Progress, in the group exhibition Tip of The Iceberg showing at Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea, 12 September 2021 to 9 January 2022. Install images can be found here