In January I devised and delivered a workshop for the wonderful Oak Project at the also wonderful Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It currently feels very much like a 'working behind the scenes' phase. I've made a start on a few changes to this site - I''m learning through doing, so please excuse any glitches and missing … Continue reading February 2022, a little update
News
Just some of the images from Dandelions and Double Yellows - Your Gallery There will be a special event to celebrate Dandelions and Double Yellows - Your Gallery on Thursday 28th October at 7pm, in Wakefield.I'm delighted that Jack Wallington will be joining us to talk about the beauty and importance of urban wild plants.Jack … Continue reading Dandelions and Double Yellows – Your Gallery: Celebration event
Raines House, Denby Dale RoadBlack MedickButtercupDaisyDandelionFox and CubsGrassesHawkweedPlantainRagwortRed Clover Garden and Back Garden StreetCow ParsleyRed ValerianRagwortNettle Royal Mail Sorting Office, Denby Dale Road (Ings Road roundaboutCommon Whitlow GrassShepherd’s PurseDandelionSow ThistleWillow Herb
If you already subscribe to my mailing list - thank you - you'll have probably realised that there can be considerable gaps between one newsletter and the next. Due to the pandemic I've left it even longer than usual.There's an Art Deco glass ceiling in my studio at The Art House and above that there's … Continue reading It’s been a while – latest newsletter
At lunchtime I walked over to the pop-up studio that I'm using for the Dandelions and Double Yellows project, thanks to support from Makey Wakey. On the way back to my studio at The Art House I walked a little slower and looked a little closer at the ground around Wakefield Cathedral. Wakefield Cathedral is … Continue reading Lunchtime noticing
I've been thinking about our relationships with plants and how they sit with ideas of 'garden' and 'wild' and the wide range of spaces that can't be defined by these terms. The working title for one of the pieces that I'm making for the Dandelions and Double Yellows exhibition at Wakefield Cathedral this summer is … Continue reading What’s in a name? yards, gardens and enclosures
Dandelions and Double Yellows is an art, nature and noticing project, by artist Helen Thomas, that asks whether we might reconsider the plants that are often dismissed as weeds.I've been sketching, painting and noticing pavement plants on the daily walk to and from my studio in Wakefield throughout the project. The more I take notice … Continue reading Dandelions and Double Yellows: submit a picture for ‘Your Gallery’
I've been doing a lot of desk work for Dandelions and Double Yellows this week; planning, organising, and making preparations to invite people to be part of Dandelions and Double Yellows by sending images of pavement plants to be exhibited in an online gallery. I'm very keen to get back to making and painting and … Continue reading Dandelions and the desk
Dandelion clocks at dusk as I walked home last nightAnd the same patch as I walked to the studio this morningPerceptions of, and relationships with, plants differ. Can we think differently about ‘weeds’, landscape management, the ‘need’ to tidy? Even in January there were many small plants growing in gaps between tarmac, concrete and brick … Continue reading Noticing
Blue metal industrial estate fencingDetail of blue painted fence with paint swatch for colour match Colour research, looking at metal fencing near Thornes Lane, on the outskirts of Wakefield. Back at the studio I made several colour swatches on paper and then returned to site the next day to match up against the fence. The … Continue reading Story of the blues