Colour of Life. Red and Indigo

As we enter November, there is a dampness in the air combined with peaty smell of the earth to remind us that the days are shortening. 

The Red

This piece, Red Trees made with collected fabrics given to me by local friends, marks the long familiar narrow lanes discovered in my walks near Maidstone. The trees casting shadows over over me as I think of the ancients who have trod its path before me.

The Pilgrims Way was thought to be an ancient trading route dating back to Neolithic times long before it was adopted for Pilgrimage. The Neolithic monuments Kit’s Coty and the Coffin Stone sit close by the route in Maidstone and are examples of Long barrows, also known as chambered tombs. Thus trade and salvation sat side by side on this ancient path

In ancient times, tin, bronze and copper was traded along the length of route. The wealth of Medieval England was founded on its tracks in which all kinds of desired goods including the dye Madder sought for the wool trade, and semi-precious stones and perfumes from the 'exotic' East

The piece is currently on exhibition in Tutankhamun and the Field of Reeds to mark the centenary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The scroll marks the sacredness of ancient footways and our connection to the past.

Red Trees seen with the Muttering bird on the left is by Robert Race, mask is by Guerrino Lovato and the Ibis (head) on the right by Madeleine Mars. Photographs courtesy of Julia Toms

The exhibition runs from the 4 November 2022 to 7 January 2023, by appointment only at the Barn near Chichester. If oyu would like to go or to attend  the  Private View on Friday, 4 November 2022, 3-7pm please contact the organiser Dr Sharon-Michi Kusunoki, 

The Indigo

I have just read An Indigo Summer by Ellie Evelyn Orrell. (University of Wales Press 2022)

I was hooked within the first few pages where here writing effortlessly and lyrically dances across the page like a Welsh Bard. Out of a summer of dyeing Indigo cloth with her mother, artist  Jeanette Orelle unfolds a story reflecting  a love of simple things, loss and creativity The roots of her story echo my own studies in Japan, adaptation of process, and a love of 'things imperfect' I attribute to my Romani grandmother

Of Japanese text and shadows and thing 'Imperfect' from my last trip to Tokyo