Slow Art In Action…

Growing a tree…

Once upon a time there was a woman who was fascinated by trees. She went out almost every day taking photos of them, and when she wasn’t snapping pictures, she’d be gazing at trees, and occasionally talking to them…

It just happens that the same woman is an obsessive stitcher (yes, it’s me – you guessed).

So she decided – not for the first time – to grow one in stitches.

She didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like, but she had an idea – a touch of awen– which she sketched onto the canvas.

A riot of colours were swooshing around in her mind, and eventually she chose the ones she was going to use.

It was autumn and lots of things were happening in her life, but gradually, stitch by tiny stitch, the tree began to appear.

She took the initial lines and gradually elaborated on them with the threads, letting her imagination decide where to take them.

Sometimes, when there were dark days, the repetitive, meditative process of stitching took her mind away from problems and sadness, and gave her peaceful, mindful moments. And all the time the tree continued to grow – watered just a few times with her tears.

But there was a lot of happiness too. She thoroughly revelled in cosying up on the sofa when it was cold outside, thick woolly socks on her feet, listening to the radio or TV while on she stitched.

Time passed, Christmas came and a new year began.

The tree took shape.

And all the unknown spaces, all the blank areas on the initial design, were filled with silk, wool and metallic threads.

Until at last, one day, there were no more spaces to fill…

As Above..

❤

Tree Time: September

In which we know it’s autumn…

Nine months of watching the changes to the oak tree on the lane. Above is a picture from each month of 2014, starting in January and ending with the picture I took this morning, showing how the tree – and the hedge – has changed over the weeks and months.

In August, although I felt that something was beginning to be different in the air, you still couldn’t really say that we’d moved into autumn, but now, despite afternoon temperatures on many days reaching summer levels, you certainly know at 8am in the mornings, that the earth has turned into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness…

The oak is changing colour now. There were hints of change last month, but they were difficult to pinpoint, the quality of light makes such a difference to what you can see each day. Now I can see the beginnings of a golding, as if someone has lightly sprayed antique gold paint across the leaves. But it’s still subtle, green continues to dominate.

But change is more obvious in the lane.

The lush growth of midsummer is dying down now. Bracken is tinged with brown as the first fronds die back. The cleavers that I thought would strangle the nettles have all but disappeared. And everywhere, the huge abundance of fruits is evident. The hedges are red with haws and hips, and sloes and blackberries hang heavy along the way.

Gradually I’m beginning to be able to see through the hedge again to the fields beyond, which until now have been hidden behind a curtain of tall, thick green foliage.

This month I’ve surprised a couple of pheasants and been mocked by dozens of squirrels – they obviously think that teasing the Delinquent Dog is a jolly good game. And is it me, or can I hear more birdsong now – it certainly seems so.

I haven’t quite had to resort to gloves and a scarf yet, but it didn’t feel far away today – I might get them out ready.

❤

I post my daily photographs of the tree and other snaps from walking the Delinquent Dog on Instagram – either follow me there, or see the mini-versions on the right-hand sidebar of the blog for regular updates.

❤

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tree Time: June…

So here we are, half way through the year. I must admit to being quite pleased with myself for sticking with my daily tree photo project, but the truth is that I’m enjoying doing it very much indeed.

When I started, it was the changes in the weather and the light that held my interest while the tree didn’t seem to be doing very much, but since then, I’ve become far more aware of all the other developments happening as the year progresses along our route. So this year I’ve watched all the wild flowers as they bloom, I’ve seen the hawthorn blossom turn the lane white, I’ve heard the first cuckoo of spring, I’ve been soaked to the knees wading through a sea of grass in the field after rain, and I’ve held onto the dog’s lead as the new tiny rabbits made their initial forays into the lane.

It will be midsummer in two days time and I think I can already feel another change in the air. There is so much growth, bracken and nettles tower over me in the hedges, I have to force my way into the place where I stand to take the tree photos, but all that energy can’t be sustained, it will soon be time for nature to rest.

I’m excited to see how the next six months unfold.

Happy Midsummer.

❤

Tree time: May

Well I’ve been photographing the oak tree almost every day for five months now. So instead of showing you the pictures from mid April to mid May, I thought I’d show the mid month pictures from January until today…

Here goes –

January 2014…

February 2014…

March 2014…

April 2014…

Today – May 21st 2014…

All the daily pictures are on my Instagram feed – the latest are over in the sidebar, but if you want to see them all just click on the pictures in the sidebar (then click on Dreaming in Stitches), the Instagram icon, or HERE.

I also post the daily pictures via Twitter, so feel free to follow me there if you prefer.  Follow @AnnPawley

Nearly half way through the year and at last the oak is dressed in all its green finery.

❤

Tree time: April…

Well, what a difference a month makes…

A whizz through the month – (if you want to see every day’s picture, they’re all on my Instagram site, you can get there by clicking the Instagram pictures or icon in the left sidebar).

You can see that at last the oak has leaves. I first caught a glimpse of pale fuzzy browny greenness towards the end of the first week in April, but I couldn’t get close enough to see really well, but other oaks along the lane started to unfurl at that time too. Within a week, you could see them for sure on the sunny days.

So I’ve learned that the oaks come into leaf a lot later than the horse-chestnuts, which are already sporting a full head of leaves and lots of candles, but there are still a few trees on the lane without leaves – now I have to go out with a book so I can work out what they are…

The last picture here was taken yesterday – quite a change from mid March.

The weather has been much better over the last few weeks, but the most noticeable thing by far for me, is the huge explosion of growth in the hedgerow and the banks. The sheer amount of plant life that has sprung up in the last couple of weeks is incredible. It’s easier to understand how important this time of year was to our ancestors when you see the rapid increase in green leaves suddenly appearing everywhere. The blossom has been and now is largely gone. Today I realised that the brambles have practically doubled in size as their new leaves seem to have shot out of nowhere. What a relief it must have been after the harshness of winter to welcome back all this plant life.

❤

I try to post every picture I take on the same day on my Instagram site – if you would like to watch the oak more often, follow me on Instagram

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Tree time: March…

It’s been about four weeks since the last tree project update, and as you can see, we’ve had a lot more sunny days. The oak tree itself still seems much the same, although in just the last few days I’ve noticed so many more buds appearing in the hedgerow, spring is definitely making its presence felt.

I continue to be surprised by how the light varies each day – all these pictures are taken at roughly the same time each morning, and I’m not adjusting the exposure, so what you see, is how it is on the day.

The main difference I’ve noticed since the last post, is the huge increase in birdsong and general bird activity during the morning walk – I wish there was a way to give the pictures their soundtrack. And we’ve seen lots of baby rabbits darting through the hedge – very sweet.

)O(

Over in the sidebar, are my Instagram pics of the Daily Tree Project, with the occasional stitchy update and other random snaps from daily life around here.

Do feel free to explore, or follow on Instagram or Twitter.

)O(

 

Tree time: February…

It’s nearly a month since I posted about my challenge to photograph the same oak tree every time I walk past it during 2014. so I thought today I’d show you what’s been happening since mid January.

If you want to see every picture, they’re all on my Instagram site (you can get there by pressing the little button that looks like a camera under the Instagram feed in the sidebar), but I’ve put a selection here – I think I’d have to say that on the whole grey has been the word of the month. Each picture has been taken at roughly the same time of day – between 8.30am and 10.30am, but difference that the weather makes is enormous.

Even on the rare days when the sun was shining, it mainly went on to become grey and wet – there was even one day when I got soaked about five minutes after taking a sunny picture – typical…

Waiting now for signs of spring. There are catkins in the hedgerow, a few shoots showing, and occasional mornings of rampant birdsong – will it be soon?

 

)O(

 

Seeing the tree for the woods…

I’ve set myself a little challenge for 2014. 

I’ve been walking more or less the same route, at roughly the same time of day, for just over a year now (taking the Delinquent Dog for his morning constitutional). Our walk goes through a wood and down a lane and every day, we pass hundreds of trees.

Now I love trees, but I don’t very often stop to really look at them.

And then at the beginning of January, one morning as we walked down the lane, past this particular oak tree, the sunlight caught it and for the first time, I was struck by its lovely shape. I took a photo.

The next day, the weather was dreadful and staring at the same tree, it looked different. I took a photo.

And so that’s when the idea came to me –  this year, I shall take a photo of that particular oak tree, every time I walk past it.

The pictures above are from the first couple of weeks – Mother Nature trying out her various lighting effects…

I’ll post a few each month.

Happy stitching.

 

 

)O(