It was another week and another neckerchief inspired by the Iceni horse. I have really fallen for this charming motif found struck into the Freckenham staters that make up part of the Wickham Market Hoard.
After first drawing out the basic design I had painted in the Iceni horses, but hadn’t decided on the colour combination for the overall interpretation. It was the middle of August and I had a mini glut of sweet peas some of which had been stuffed into a vase. The morning sunlight was catching the petals beautifully and I thought, yes, possibly these colours will do arranged in front of the stained glass panel. With some slight adjustments to the vase position I had a palette with which to paint the scarf.
However, when most of the colours were added I felt the overall effect was too pale and the piece had more than a hint of a gelato selection about it or even a bag of liquorice allsorts. My first thought was to fill in the background with black, but perhaps that would be too harsh. In the end I chose a darkish grey to add a more subtle contrast.
All finished, steamed and then photographed. That sounds so straightforward and simple, but I have to say that this is one of the those scarves that has been really difficult to photograph. How we see colour is a complex process, but it is most definitely affected by the quality of the ambient light, whether that’s light at dawn or dusk, or full summer sunlight, or electric light, or even candlelight! You can tell that despite sitting at my computer adjusting these photos, as I held the actual scarf in front of me, the colours in each photo look slightly different. I suppose any image is an approximation of a reality. We easily accept a painting as a visual interpretation, but often forget that a photograph is a visual rendering too, added to which the camera always lies to a greater or lesser extent!
PS – If you are in Suffolk . . . . .
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Agnes Ashe 
Thanks for sharing your creative processes. You are right about the camera lying!
That’s a little secret photographers have known from the very beginnings of photography don’t you think?
You are so right.
I like this scarf a lot, both colors and design. And I totally sympathize with the camera issues. It’s always a shock to me how different what my eye sees from what the camera shows.
Yes, it is a problem when you are either buying or selling online and relying on photographs. At least when you do a real-life show people can make their own ‘colour’ assessments.
Amazing creativity Agnes. May you have success at the Crafts Weekend.
Thank you. I don’t know whether our political situation (General Election on 12th Dec) is going to make folk nervous and mean it will be more ‘just looking’ and less buying.
Label every item PRE BREXIT BARGAIN
Or even pre meltdown bargain!
The photo in the box is beautifully luminescent and tactile, as if the material is slippery silky. Is that how it is actually, or more a chiffon-like feel? It makes the colours vibrant. I love this horse detail also. Good luck at the craft fair. I went to a political satire show last Thursday night, and Boris got a sketch all to himself 🙂
Yes, this small scarf/neckerchief is definitely more silky. As usual it is hard to capture that look or feel thing. Thanks for the positive wishes. I don’t know until set-up day whether I will be in the smaller warm bit or the rather cold enormous old barn area.
I am guessing the sketch was pretty funny and perhaps called ‘The Lesser Trump’ or ‘The $2 Trump’ or ‘The Drunken Trump’ or ‘The Shambolic Trump’ . . . . .
Shambolic was a definite theme, as he loped around the stage like an over-excited five year old