Summertime thoughts

Summer brings holidays, and holidays mean time to expand our minds and, more importantly for us, our range of natural inks and dyes.

Inspiration comes in many forms. Trips away from home, flowers growing together in the garden, and even unrushed walks around a market can introduce our minds to colour palettes and combinations that otherwise may go unconsidered. Recently, Wild has produced multiple works of art using her fabulous inks (check them out on Instagram), and I have curated beautiful themed collections of fabric squares.

Time also brings learning opportunities. Wild and I shared a very happy afternoon honing our lake pigment techniques, extracting colour from hollyhocks, onions and avocados. We had an even better time making charcoal and using it to create masterpieces with five fantastic students on our first Wild and Madder Children's Summer Workshop. We eagerly await the Indigo Dye and Natural Ink courses next week.

As Kandinsky said, "Colour is a power that directly influences the soul."

It seems to us that taking time to play with natural colour makes our souls very content indeed.

Happy summertime everybody!