The story behind "Autumn Fields"

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

This is an imaginary landscape inspired by the landscape of Northumberland near the Cheviot hills. The idea for this picture came together gradually as a result of doing quite a bit of driving about during last autumn and being inspired by the  colours and the patchwork quilt effect of the landscape when viewed from a distance. The field in the foreground has just been harvested, with just straw stubble left in the field and I used two vintage herringbone Harris Tweeds I have had for years to achieve this effect.

I have been collecting Harris Tweed for 12 years and I couldn't tell you how many different colours and patterns I have now. Last year  I counted all the larger pieces of different blue Harris Tweeds I had and counted 63. I've bought more since and then of course there's all the blues that I've now  only got small pieces of.  Anyway... you get the picture. I have lots of different colours to work with! People often ask where I get my Harris Tweed  and if I just use scraps. I buy my tweed by the metre and tend to buy most of my tweed online, often direct from the weavers. I have also visited the island of Harris/Lewis a couple of times and last time I spent £800 on tweed! If you want to find out where to buy Harris Tweed the Harris Tweed Authority have a list on their website.

"Autumn Fields" has now sold but the image is still available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.