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I feel drawn to yellow and purple like a bee.
The other afternoon while walking in the meadow, I realised
my impulse to use those colours comes from what I see every day.
I have been wondering about the colours of my next pendant
and as I write, come to my mind the golds and yellows, pinks and greens, white
and purple of last evening in the fields.
It has been such a joy working with waxed linen, precious as
a metal; I imagine linen could have been the currency of some remote
civilisation; or what the Huichol Indians fingers must feel when working on
their colourful tablets; thread and wax again, a sacred mixture.
Waxed linen is not easy to get in England although it is
made with Irish linen; the only place that produces the quality and variety of
colours is the US, so one has to import it and often pay import tax, so it is
not cheap. I managed to get a few yards of thirty six different colours
recently and I treasure them more than any other material in my workshop, more
than the beautiful hammered Thai silver, or the semiprecious stone beads,
because it is so difficult to get it.
The waxed cords are like the finest strands of clay, which
when they embrace, colours weave into each other magically. I am a constantly
surprised observer and creator both at once, as knot by knot I see the figures
emerge. Working with waxed linen gives me, as I imagine sculpting, or
colouring, or doing pottery must give, a very sensual joy.
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