Spring Fling Reflections

Strange it is all over, Spring Fling seems to have been part of my every waking moment and then it stopped.

Finishing one of many plant supports at Spring Fling

My biggest panic was how close it was to the end of the living willow season and having so few baskets made. Lots of workshops also reduced making time, however that was partly why I wanted to do it, so I could see if it was possible to take on an event this large at this time of year. In the end it worked and showed me what can be achieved in the spaces between workshops and commissions.

Having an exhibition at the CatStrand really upped the pressure, but how rewarding that has been. I carry a head full of ideas for new work which I rarely get chance to progress, this made it happen. So there should be some more interesting designs tumbling out of the workshop this year.

Some Zarzos at the CatStrand Exhibition

We had a great number of visitors at the CatStrand over Spring Fling and I am really grateful for the interest they took in my work and their enthusiasm for the whole event, thank you everyone.

Spring Fling 2013 It All Starts Here

If I look out from the willow beds I can see the hills on the other side of the Loch, that is the county of Dumfries and Galloway. Where I am standing is in East Ayrshire, jump in the kayak or cycle up the road and I am in the next county. Fine, you might say, what's the problem with that? One very big problem I cannot apply for Spring Fling.

Spring Fling is probably the single most successful Open Studio event in the UK, some artists/makers have been known to make the largest part of their yearly income from this one event. The application is tough, the joining fee has to be considered, yet it is a huge opportunity backed by almost a years' worth of publicity. I am past the green with envy stage, the years have reduced me to a shallow whiny 'what if?'

Then...this year someone (cannot remember who) said 'did you know Spring Fling have introduced a neighbours scheme.' I did not take it in at the time as I probably did not believe it, then there was a Tweet about applying for the neighbours scheme. Artists and makers in east Ayrshire could apply for Spring fling! YES!

Panic, doubts, all my images looked rubbish, surely they would choose him, her, them, delay, disbelief, paranoia, trashed baskets, so I applied. The application is based on four criteria:
1. Quality of the applicant's work
2. Image quality
3. Quality of CV and artists statement
4. The applicant's proposed 'Spring Fling' open studio/visitor experience
A fairly lengthy online form covering all the above, and more, including an indication of ones commitment is required. Add images, take a deep breath and press SEND.

Then wait.

Silver Gilt at Gardening Scotland

A big congratulations to the team that put together the Cornucopia Garden at Gardening Scotland. All their hard work and excellent design paid off and the judges awarded them a silver gilt. This is some of the team and myself on the Sunday of the event.

Where it all started, a lot easier working on the vertical to begin with.

Finally it was raised to its correct position to complete the tail and fix the structure in place.

The award winning Cornucopia Garden, which has since been moved to a new location in an admirers garden.

Scottish Agricultural College Cornucopia

This is the original design by Anne Nurmiranta for the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) show garden for the 2012 Gardening Scotland event at Ingliston, Edinburgh.

The size of the stand is 5m x 4m and the garden is 'a tribute to the abundance of nature' with a selection of plants suitable for the Scottish climate. The team included members of the 2nd year HND Garden Design and Horticulture students, seven in all. I was asked to construct the Cornucopia and run a weaving workshop for the students to make baskets for the event.

The first job was to make a prototype, to see if it fitted the students design and to give me an idea of the best way to construct it. This model was half size and constructed vertically then laid horizontally. The rope boundary is the same proportion as the final garden space.

Next we held a workshop at the Scottish Agricultural Collage and made some fine frame baskets and of course cornucopias.

Valentine's Day Massacre

About four years ago  a local school and myself put up a living willow shelter at the Scottish Wildlife Trust Cathkin Marsh site. A popular bird watching location and quite a unique area just south of Glasgow. However it seems the shelter became a regular spot for more amorous activities, which did not go down well with the local 'twitchers'. This resulted in one of the more unusual commissions to date, that is taking down a perfectly good live structure that had not been vandalised or over run  by some nasty willow disease.

It was a strange experience taking down the structure and seeing it as a pile of twigs at the side of the path.

However it was not all destruction, as I had another job to do. The local cows, who occasionally browse the Marsh, had caused their own damage to the original 'fedge'. This screen was put up to create cover for those entering the viewing platform in the hope it would not distract the birds. It was decided a new screen behind the old one would maintain the original purpose but be out of reach of the cows.

So happy cows and bird watchers but a bit of a Valentine's day disappointment for the more energetically romantic users of the Marsh. 

Up and Down

After a chilly day making baskets in a yurt in Girvan (the yurt was warm) on Sunday and a day teaching living willow at Twecher it was time to head north to Inverness and then onto Inverewe.

I had tried to do a site visit at Inverewe just before Christmas but a series of storms led me to cancel. A little nervous as I set off after a recent fall of snow but as it turned out it was a great trip. I spent Monday night in Inverness which was a good choice as I had a stunning drive through great Highland scenery with snow capped mountains and brown/grey mottled glens.

The image in my mind of the National Trust for Scotland garden at Inverewe was no match for the actual experience. It is right on the coast with doorways from the walled garden actually opening onto the shore, this is backed by wooded hills consisting of collections of exotic trees. It took a while to find someone but meanwhile it was a good excuse to poke around without any distractions.

The purpose of my visit was two fold, one to look at an area of revetment work where a bank is to be supported by a low willow border, secondly a sculptured back drop for some new planting. Head Gardener Kevin Ball showed me around while other enthusiastic staff shared their ideas and observations. The two beds for the sculptures are about 35 metres long and need to attract the visitors to take a closer look. With such great weather it was a real joy to sit and sketch or wander around photographing the site.

I returned home greatly inspired, and set off the next day to continue work at Netherthird Primary, cheerfully unloading the van on a clear crisp morning. Just needed to loosen the soil to put down the ground cover, swung the pickaxe which bounced off the soil like it had just hit concrete. No planting today.

On the Road Again

It is the that time of year when the van gets filled up with tools, the yard is full of willow and the stretch tie runs out quicker than I can buy it. Yes it is the living willow season, and this year it started bang on time with no weather interruptions, well until today.
Actually there was a bit of a warm up towards the end of last year with two courses, one at the Catstrand Arts Centre in New Galloway and the other here at Lamdoughty Farm. We had a day of two halves at the Catstrand lulled into a false sense of security with kind weather in the morning followed after lunch by a Galloway monsoon. Four layers and literally soaked to the skin.
When it came to the course here the gods were obviously thinking of Christmas and gave us a beautiful cold bright day. So we had a happy chatty willow twiddling day making 'fedges', tunnels, domes and arbours, which like the snow had all gone by the morning.

Last week I hit the road to the first school project of 2012, at Maidens down on the coast. Nice ground, sandy and a bit pebbly in places but well drained and no mud. After the obligatory first day of turfing it was up with the arch and on with the 'fedge'. I think it is going to be a bit of an arch year this year, each school design seems to conjure up the opportunity to slip in an arch. These ones are tending towards 'twigwams' with little hide holes in the base.

  Today it snowed and the van sat in the yard with it's bundles of willow in white mounds on the roof.