Guided by Nature

26/08/2026

The Tibetan word 'shul' means the mark or trace that remains behind. Mulling ochre....even the remnants are beautiful, I can't bring myself to wash the slab. What would the Welsh translation be? Ôl?

23/08/2026

I'm very pleased to say that my application to be a resident artist at The Booth, in Shetland's ancient capital Scalloway has been accepted by Wasps Studios. It's the wee blue building right on the shore!

It's hard to think of a more inspiring place to be during the long nights of winter and I am looking forward to continuing my research into the Alchemical theme of 'Nigredo' -'The Blackening'. I'll be here for winter solstice, christmas and new year, a time when I love to slow right down, be quiet and alone in the generative darkness and probably the wild weather too! 🖤

21/08/2026

Sometimes I wish I could just transport people into the studio for a moment. Working with Madder, Coreopsis and Ochre today, they give off such a wildly visceral, embodied almost erotic vibe. I am planning to up my game with social media but there is something about pigments that can only really be experienced by being with them. In the meantime this pic might just give a hint at their full bodied beauty. Maybe it's enough to tempt people to come along to some in-person workshops later this year. I will pop the link to my mailing list in the comments ( I use it to update about events only once in a while, no spam)

16/08/2026

I suddenly decided it was time to use last year's indigo... make no mistake this is a big deal! Grown from seed, picked, fermented, pigment extracted and dried it out. I made quite a few mistakes and lost most of it. It's wonderful to finally find a worthy project for it. It's normal for us to want everything to be easily had and plentiful but the value of what we have to toil for is immeasurable and immensely meaningful.

15/08/2026

There's just an insane amount of flowers growing at the moment. Coreopsis and Scabious create such a fantastic range of colours; deep oranges, blues and purples. And of course they provide food for our little friends. I am looking forward to using these to dye fleece for needle felting with Carys Anne and Jên Morris at the end of October. And drying them for future workshops, I wonder what people might be keen to learn to make with them, paint, ink, dye? I will start thinking about workshops for later in the year soon, let me know what there might be enthusiasm for and I will see what I can do!

14/08/2026

Learning, learning, learning....so it needs to be very, very hot to make bone white. Otherwise you get a muddy colour 🤔 I got there eventually....it took a while! I just love to learn and experiment, I guess it's one of the reasons I enjoy working with raw pigment so much. Paint in a plastic tube is just kind of boring. However if you want to take a little bit of pain out of the long learning process and have some fun while doing it then join one of the Alchemical Arts retreats I will be running at Trigonos or book to spend a day with me in my studio and get bespoke mentoring in my studio in North Wales!

This weekend I will be adding a page to my website about one to one mentoring and the link for my first Alchemical Arts retreat at Trigonos is in the comments below. I will be adding three more retreats just as fast as I can do it this summer! ❤️🤍💜💙💛🧡🖤

14/08/2026

Hey! We have one place come available on this free Creative Nature workshop on 18th and 25th August with Conwy Mind. You don't need any experience just come along relax in nature and have fun! Please contact Conwy Mind directly to book, see link in comments. We will make inks and dye out of beautiful summer flowers and create our own little keepsake to take home. 💚😍

13/08/2026

The problem is when you get into creating your own art materials with natural pigment those plasticy acrylics and synthetic colour start to feel a bit gross and yukky. It's like changing from fast food take aways to organic local produce. Maybe I am just an art snob now! It's been five years since I began working with local natural pigment and there is no turning back. Just waiting for a community art project to pick it all so it doesn't get wasted. I will then have more space for earth, rock, clay, bone and my dried dye plants everything that makes my heart sing. ❤️😍 I feel lucky to have the opportunity to indulge in the long process of making colour from raw materials it's so satisfying.

12/08/2026

There's just a few more weeks left to book onto this threshold course in eco-psychology. Essential introductory learning for anyone wishing to deliver professional, high quality nature based workshops with confidence. Great for upskilling or a career change.

I will be co-facilitating this with Rhonda Brandrick co-founder of Natural Academy and can vouch for their in-depth, top notch, accredited training which has been a game changer for me both personally and professionally.

The venue Middlewood Trust, a private off grid site in North Lancashire is a stunning setting for an immersive learning experience in nature.

11/08/2026