Walking Thoughts

Alking Thoughts

Amanda Hislop My normal creativity has eluded me during these strange times we are living through. I have tidied and sorted my

summerhouse work space and contents, unearthing works in progress and a multitude of ‘stuff’ waiting for that ‘just what I need’ moment.

I thought this would reinstate my creative self and I would happily spend time working on all those things I hadn’t got around to because I was so busy teaching workshops both near and far. I found difficulty in making connections in my work and self I considered what I could do, walking has always been a constant pleasure and gardening too, when time allowed, doubt and questioning crept in. Both these activities have sustained me over the last seemingly endless weeks and months of necessary restrictions. 61

My morning walk has become the focus to the start of my day and gardening has become the definition of weekend and evening during the light spring and summer days. I realise that planting and digging are good for me physically and mentally an absorbing activity that gives great joy, chasing away the baffling problems of this pandemic we are in. Nature is a constant which gives a rhythm to time which seems to have been distorted. I established a morning walk routine, to banish the waking early thoughts which threatened to over whelm; it was better to get up and go for a walk allowing myself to walk through the bad bits!

In the first lockdown I walked a short circular route of about a mile daily, along paths and field edges, starting early, aiming to be home without seeing anyone. I wanted and needed to be on my own, a time to think and unravel emotional turmoil, a time and place to be self without the distractions of my new normal home life. With the dawn of 2021 and more restrictions imposed I needed a longer walk to challenge, inspire and bring mental clarity. I extended my route to roughly 3 1/2 miles, with various choices of route offering variation according to conditions under foot and my mood.

During this walk I explored the landscape close to home really appreciating the sometimes imperceptible changes along the way. I walk part of the route on my own and part with my daughter’s dog, Clover - a cocker spaniel, who spends weekdays with me now. This brings a different focus to this stage of my walk, I look and absorb the landscape whilst maintaining sight of Clover enjoying the space in only the way a young dog can, she makes me laugh, another joyous aspect of walking with a dog, as she bounds through long grass or nose down follows another interesting smell! Walking is an activity which allows me to engage with the landscape through the changing seasons and whatever the weather.

I am happy to walk in rain and wind, although this tends to narrow my view somewhat, hood up, head down I focus on my feet and the path ahead and the changes in surface qualities, mud, tarmac cracked and worn, water running in the gullies, all the while looking closely at details and listening to wind and birdsong. There is sense of achievement in the distance walked, energy used and the thoughts brought into focus. Fine weather brings another view, with layers of landscape unfolding in the distance, sunlight highlighting colour and elements in the landscape. Looking to the horizon, which appears as I write in mid June, to be the colour of Paynes Grey, across a myriad of shades of green with highlights in tones of yellow and bronze a sense of tranquillity descends; all is well in the natural landscape.

As I walk I notice changing viewpoints in the landscape, a line of trees emerges and then disappears as the path takes me through a tunnel of over grown hedgerow, a tangled mesh of yellow lichen covered stems in the winter, then a cloak of green in the spring, becoming more dense and cool as summer progresses. Pathways edged in waist high frothy white and green cow parsley which will fade to statuesque stems as summer progresses. Sunlight across the path casts shadows, dancing grasses intertwined with the lines cast by mesh and wire fences; I have worked with these images in a small concertina sketchbook, with the notion of drawing lines following my footsteps on the path, an abstract record of part of my walk.

Another path takes me through a field of wheat, the colour a sea of steely green blue topped with a haze of brownish yellow grass growing through the crop. This adds a tactile quality to my footsteps as my hands brush along the heads of wheat. I have watched this field grow from little tufts to strong stems which will change over the coming days and weeks ripening to soft golden yellow.

So now I wait for the world to settle into a rhythm whereby we can function with a recognisable normality, only then do I think my creativity will return with full strength. In the meantime I walk, look, absorb, and garden surrounding myself with the reliable cycle of nature and planting knowing that my visual memory has a rich resource of visual marks to explore. I think I must get a new sketchbook on the go; the writing of this article has seen my creative flow begin to return and I feel I now need to play with colour, texture and line, making impressions of this marvellous landscape around me.

Contacts

www.amandahisloptextileartist.com www.facebook.com/ AmandaHislopTextileArtist Instagram @amandahislop www.oxfordshirecraftguild.co.uk www.prismtextiles.co.uk

See Amanda demonstrate her work on youtube