The story behind "Snowdrops"

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.

Snowdrops was the first picture I did for the exhibition. It is inspired by the carpet of snowdrops that covers the woodlands in the small Northumberland village of Rock where I live every February. It's a breathtaking miracle and it's very special to me for two reasons. Firstly, I find the dark days of winter a bit difficult and the arrival of the snowdrops mean that spring is finally on it's way. Secondly it's just so beautiful!

The picture itself is an imagined composition taken from lots of close-up photos. Some of which were taken lying down on the ground (very carefully) amongst the snowdrops. We don't get many visitors to the village in winter, but typically a couple decided to walk their dog around the pond while I was doing so. Rather embarrassing!

​All my pictures start life as a line drawing, which I then cut up and use as you would a dressmakers pattern to cut out all the Harris Tweed pieces. I then pin all the pieces onto the background piece of Harris Tweed and I needle felt everything into place. The final and most time consuming part of the process is needle felting all the details onto the picture with wool yarns. People often think I sew my pictures, but everything is needle felted. Although this picture is small at 9.5 inches square (unframed) it took about 35 hours as it was so complicated and detailed.

"Snowdrops" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 11.75 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £350. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.