Oh Joy of Joys, Spring is here!
The Joy of Jonquils- such happy flowers!
I suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder), which means that short, dark, winter days just make me depressed. So when the sun starts shining and colour starts to appear in the garden, I feel a whole lot better. It probably explains why I like lots of colour in the garden, whilst my husband seems to be happy with ferns and suchlike (various shades of green). Not that I don't like green of course - it's the perfect foil for everything; I just like other colours too.
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| Camellias come in an array of lovely colours (white through yellows, pink, reds and deep clarets) and forms. Once established, they are reliable bloomers here in March and April |
This means that I have to be careful when I am designing my embroideries. My first instinct is to go with those bright saturated colours which just zing on your retinas. Traditionally,of course, sampler colours are muted, of course. Or are they? When we look at most old samplers, their colours are muted today, but that may be the result of light fading the textiles and fibres (colour fastness to light can be tricky, especially in the red end of the spectrum - ask any artist!), and the accumulation of dust and dirt over time. If you look at what some very clever people do with natural dyes, then there is a whole rainbow of fabulous colours available, many of which would have been available hundreds of years ago. If you are interested in natural dyes Renaissance Dyeing have a fabulous website. As you can see from a quick look at the pictures, there is a great range of saturated colours, as well as more subtle shades.
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| Hellebores - reliable bloomers with fascinating variations to keep everyone interested. |
And of course a lot of those natural dyes would have plant origins back in the day (as they do today). The names of the dyes say it all: Madder, Indigo, Persian Berry, Weld, Logwood, Chestnut and Oak Gall, to name but a few. The Art and Science of using natural dyes has achieved wonders in the hands of modern day Artisans - it is worth giving their wonderful products a try.
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| Oh the glory of Cherry trees. The Japanese adore them for their beauty, reflecting the transience of life. And yes, white is a colour - all colours of the Rainbow in one single glorious colour. |
So maybe I will risk a few 'bright' colours in my Samplers. In a hundred years someone might be sighing over their lovely old muted colours - you never know!
Happy stitching! B