The Weaving

When we started on this journey I wanted to somehow commemorate the move to the island and build of our forever home.

I wanted to find a medium that was unique and significant to us in some way. Both husband and I love art, and I especially love textiles, so we decided to combine these two loves into the idea of a weaving.

Personally, my emotional response to the island has always been to do with its light, colours and textures.

The ever changing skies over the island exhibit colours that range from deep, brooding greys to clear, intense blues.

There is the translucent, steel-grey of the sea which changes to patches of iridescent aquamarine in the shallower waters.

And on the land, the textures of sand and pebbles on the local beaches and the ancient, speckled, rain-smoothed granite poking through the reeds on the croft.

I’ll create my own art in response to all of this one day, that’s something I’m quite sure of. I’m just not ready yet.

In the meantime, I’ve found a talented young weaver called Christy Balfour and I’ve commissioned her to weave us a piece for our new home.

It’s in a mixture of different weight wools and linens, texturally varied and interesting and in washed-out greys, sables, greens and aquas – sky, croft and sea colours.

It’s Christy’s own design, and quite abstract. It’s being woven now and should be ready in a few more months.

It will be the first piece of art that we mount on the walls next year, and having seen the plans and the early samples above, I think it’s going to be amazing.

Young artists find it incredibly tough to live on the proceeds of their work so I’m so pleased that we’ve been able to do this, especially during lockdown when things must have been especially challenging for small businesses.

And we will have a piece of work that has been created in direct response to our feelings about the island.