Even though the warmer Summer weather is trying to reach West Kilbride, my head is firmly stuck in the cold and wet wintry showers and the stunning sunsets from earlier this year as I am designing and weaving my new collection.
As you might have gathered if you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter I like to take photos of the weather and the sky when I am going for my morning walks with my doggy weaving assistant Gonzo.
Even though I have qualifications in observing and forecasting the weather, it still doesn’t stop me from having my breath taken away by the beauty of the constantly changing weather we have on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland. Sometimes my breath can be taken away by the strong winds here too as well.
So, what better basis to create my first full collection of handwoven scarves and cowls for 2015, called Sunsets and Showers, than on a series of photos taken on different days last Autumn and Winter.
Sunsets
As we face East we can get some amazing sunsets on the Clyde Coast. The first of the sunsets for my inspiration happened on the 16th November 2014.
This sunset was beautiful and we spotted it on the way back from being out. The colours changed so much over the hour from the first photograph to the last. The way the sunlight caught the cloud as it lowered in the sky created the dramatic effect. The subtle shading and colours from these photos will be used in one set of scarves and cowls.
The second sunset that inspired me occurred on 7 February 2015.
This sunset had more striking colours than the previous one, but the textures from the clouds were far more stunning. The strong purples and pink highlighted with the golds and yellows against the purple sky are just calling out to be turned into scarves and cowls.
Showers
The first set of Showers photos were taken on the morning of the 10th October 2014, when the clouds where rapidly growing as they moved inland.
In these photos if you play them as a slideshow you can see the Cumulus (fluffy) clouds building quickly over time and gaining height, leading to heavy and thundery showers inland. These photos were taken from about 9am to 9.30am, just to give an idea of how rapidly these clouds were forming. The weather for that day, as recorded at Prestwick Airport, was thundery showers which wasn’t surprising by the rapid growth of the clouds.
The contrast in the textures and the shades of the greys, blues, and creams are exciting and this will be translated into one set of scarves and cowls.
Again, this series of photos were taken between 10.00 am to 10.30 am on the 5th December. The light that morning was amazing as the sun was low on the horizon and the cloud level was low when it came in, creating slivers of light across Ardneil Beach. It was a cold morning and the showers were rather unpleasant to be in and again the weather for that day can be seen here for Prestwick Airport.
The light in these photos is what has inspired this section of the collection, and I shall try and bring in the texture from the fast moving showers as the sped along the Clyde coast.
Now that I had all this inspiration I then headed off to buy yarn and start sampling for my new handwoven Sunsets and Showers Scarves and Cowls collection. What I bought and how they’ve woven up shall be in my next blog post.