It is not always the case for me, but with seasonal changes I often find that I am choosing a different palette for my work.
Back in November we had a brief, cold snap. The frost was enough to blacken the dahlias in the backyard and I noticed that I was already painting with cool blues again.
Since my summer visit to the Ipswich Museum I have been working and re-working the delightful ‘Iceni’ horse motif found on the Freckenham staters. By November it was time for me to move on from painting versions on silk neckerchiefs and to develop the motif into a full design for one of the bigger squares of silk I paint.
With all the dyed and resist areas dried the silk square was steamed and photographed. It is now January, and winter proper, and this scarf of winter blues has been added to my online shop.
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Agnes Ashe 
I really like this! Hope this year is super-productive for you.
Thank you. Actually, I have set myself a challenge of not buying any dyes this year – I already have quite a stock that’s been accumulated over 25 years and I think it is time to just use what I have. It will be a creative challenge. (Just hoping I don’t get a very specific commission!)
Irresistible colours, your work must sell well!
Thank you 😁. Just recently I have had a couple of repeat customers and for me that is praise indeed.
Congratulations.
Cheers.
I really like the tones in this scarf. And the horse motif is really striking. Great start to this year and perfect for the season.
Thank you. Wishing you a great creative and productive 2020.
Fascinating emergence of the Iceni Horse Agnes, semi abstract but clearly identifiable
Thanks – I just love it as it is so modern yet 2000 years old and from my home county.
My every good wish for a successful 2020, and thrilled to read you have repeat customers. That scarf is wonderful. I love it.
Thanks. Have been watching the news and so, so hope you are okay. Everybody I speak to hear is incredibly shocked. This catastrophe is a terrible way for the climate crisis to finally become headlines news across the globe. Hoping for you all that 2020 turns out to be a hell of a lot better than this tragic start.
Personally, we are safe and probably in no danger. In front of us we have a golf course and then ocean; and behind us we have a lot of built up suburb. All the same, behind that is a lot of bushland, part of the Great Dividing range. Our biggest problem is poor air quality from smoke, and some ash.
We all know people who have been more affected. My cousin only yesterday returned to his home since new year’s eve. Until then, he was sitting on a beach in his campervan, with a 1000 others (not Mallacoota which you would have seen in the news. There have been thousands of people sheltering on various coastal beaches).
My cousin is trying to clean up ash and debris and re-ready his house for the next onslaught expected in a couple of days.
It’s like some horrible American disaster movie; and until we get pouring rain, there is no end to this.
Yes, I did wonder whether you had poor air quality after an earlier comment about your lungs. It must be awful and extremely worrying for asthma and COPD sufferers. I hope your cousin isn’t isolated and that he lives in a community that can pool resources and support each other. Do you think this real-life disaster movie might reset Australian politics?
I live in hope that the economic consequences of these fires will give the PM (Scott Morrison) an excuse to allow discussion within his party on climate change – or at least, real emission targets, not simply accounting offsets. However, I fear it will be business as usual once everything returns to normal.
My cousin is in an isolated area. Here is a link to a second house he has on the property, which is a holiday let.
https://tilba.com.au/item/lyrebird-lodge/
The community in the area of Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba number around 300. They are very supportive of each other.
The nearest major centre is Narooma with 3000. They were in the fire line last week, and narrowly missed being hit. But the season is far from over.
Worryingly and sadly, it may well return to business as usual for some of those in power, but even here in UK, more and more ordinary people are thinking about the climate problems and their own contributions. The fact that everyday folk, not just climate scientists, are starting to ask challenging questions is hopefully a turning point.
Your cousin’s holiday let property looks gorgeous and normally I guess a delightful, peaceful retreat for visitors. Three hundred is a small community and I hope theirs and the town of Narooma’s luck holds out for the rest of the fire season.
Wow! Just… wow!
😁Thank you. 😌