At the supermarket car park – great Portland stone boulders marking boundaries and territories; the backbone of this sleeping giant needing its armour. Gathered small stones from the hardcore underneath; plenty of choice.
Author Archives: sarah gilpin
Day 19
56 trees planted in Maldon Road: initiated by Erika and the residents in 2004, their presence is exciting and substantive. Alternate rowan and silver birch.. I search amongst them for the brightest of the fallen berries and the deepest ‘eye‘ … what had failed yesterday is carried through today..
Day 18
Erika’s lush Brighton garden washed clean after night rain: fallen fuschia flowers provide the paint palette and bold fig leaves the canvas.
Day 17
Brighton: we breakfast at The Meeting Place watching the sea. On the beach complete kelp strands stream from my fingers – but how to hold them? I try high points on groynes, mounds of pebbles (there are no large ones to stack), and notch cuttlebones – the tower is precarious and falls: the day needs to go on – we leave before I get a parking ticket
Day 16
Ashdown Forest and I set out to visit my trees and favourite haunts. A profusion of bracken arches over my head, catching the sunlight as it waves in the wind. Many attempts to hang and weave and shape are aborted. The grace and strength of the whole unbroken stem demands reverence.. tea awaits me with Jane at The Studio: hurrah!
Day 15
.. but I am getting late. Traveling to Brighton in the evening and much to do before I go. Richard Long’s stone lines were an inspiration for this – but no suitable stones were easily and immediately to hand. Only as I was driving away did the potential of elder flower heads strike me.
DAY 14
purple associations lingered from yesterday: buddleia against rock face… here, east from the hut it is ragged regal knapweed that caught my eye. I like the reverent core but all in shadow so difficult to photograph – perhaps a return visit later in the day would have been a good idea.
Day 13
a soft and soul-full morning walking the old railway track to check up on goats – 8 visible contentedly chewing the cud. A wild flower mosaic: pyramid orchid patches, bold buddleia, glowing dog roses – their delicate and large petals gradually became a focus for work. I collected only the fallen… the dew (and my spit) held them only briefly to these disused posts.
Day 12
my lunch hour at Radipole – colour, form and texture all around.. tried similar on leaves still on bushes but looked intrusive – response to place not quite formed ..
Day 11
water pooling on the surface of the ripple rock ledge – rain dropping from the heavens, and flat green blades collected as I walked to the cliff top.
Forty Days 