‘A weed is simply a plant whose virtues we haven’t yet discovered’…Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I was young and TV in Australia was young, hang on ….. does that make me old???? Suppose so. Anyway, there was a children’s program called “Bill and Ben -The Flower Pot Men”. Bill and Ben were clay flower pots and they used to clump around their garden talking to each other with squeaky little voices looking for “Weed”, another resident in the garden. So whenever I see weeds in my garden, of which there are many, I think of those funny, squeaky little garden characters calling out looking for Weed.
I was recently in my garden giving my cooking herbs a much needed drink and came across a happy tiny weed growing in the crack in the pathway.
The leaves, or are they flowers?, look a bit like pink coloured clover, but the leaves are about the size of match heads. The stems are a darker pink colour and seem to be reaching out to explore which direction to grow in…..deciding on which journey to take!
Happy little interloper living in the concrete cracks of my garden path.
I paused to admire how perfectly Mother nature formed those little leaves and their amazing colours and structure and positioning of the branches. I photographed the weed in its pathway crack and marvelled at the formation. I was inspired to use it as a start for a textile art design and stitchery composition.
Fabric possibilities
Design Sketch
Nature never lets you down and provides inspiration always.
I have found that if a design is not ready to be ‘seen’ it will not allow me to proceed with the planning and execution of the creative idea. The design creates its own pace and direction and if I try to force the outcome…….it recedes. Sometimes for years, until a fabric, colour, texture or certain thread breathes new life to the creative process. Sometimes, I think, the design is waiting for me to grow and gain new perspectives before it reveals its story, beauty and direction. I feel ……..it’s worth the wait – always…… as it becomes a partnership.
I photographed the weed and then used the photo viewing application to duplicate the photo a few times so that I could play around with the image, experiment with different colours and add a few filters. Doing this sometimes give me new perspective on a creative journey and can inspire a different pathway from that which may have been first envisioned. Being open and flexible allows me to grow as a person and artist.
Examine your own flexibility, trial new opportunities and examine colour, spacial placement and interconnection between elements which might make your design even more interesting and which can support the ‘story’ that you wish to communicate to the viewer.
