Setting up a stall in the middle of nowhere - May 2022

When I was young we visited Harris once a year to see my grandparents. I have very fond memories of these special weeks: visiting friends and family and eating too many oatcakes and biscuits, helping with the peats, picking vegetables and fruit and taking surplus cabbages and potatoes to neighbours in return for a bottle of fresh milk, jumping in the bogs and making dams in the stream. But one memory that is very special is Nelly who lived in Geocrab. She was a keen knitter and sold her wares from a bonnet of a car parked near to her house. When someone stopped she would hastily walk out to them to see if they wanted anything. This memory has stayed with me all of my life so I wanted to do the same with the aim of selling my recently woven wares. I parked the car in the middle of nowhere on the peat road to Leverburgh. I was there for 3 hours on a cold, wet and windy May day and 4 cars passed me and they didn't stop.

The clothes horse fell over a few times, I saw an eagle, I got very cold and I didn't sell anything. 

 You may be asking yourself, 'Why didn't she choose a better location?'

And I would answer,

'I wanted to be in the middle of nowhere to surprise people.'

In the end no one wanted to get out of their big, warm, cosy cars on a cold, windy day to look at some random stranger's weaving in the middle of nowhere. 

Project Awre 06/07/22

 

Project Awre

12 hours spent by the River Severn near Awre in Gloucestersire.

Arrived at 6.30am when the tide was still going out.

A cloudy start to the day but warm.

Set up camp just beyond the corrugated shack.

The mud was drying out in places creating cracks.

In other areas it was still wet. I started to play.

Placed a piece of handwoven cloth weighted down by rocks on the shoreline.

Made imprints in the mud.

For once there wasn't much rubbish about but found this glass bottle.

Throwing the softer, wetter mud. Splattering across the drier mud.

Low tide was at 9.30am.

Drawing with mud and pens.

Wandered over to the corrugated shack at midday.

By the time I got back to camp at 12.15 the tide had come in covering the sandbanks and the river was making wonderful glurpy noises as it collided with the mud.

The water was rushing in.

High tide was at 1.10pm

The water started to calm down and was no longer rushing in. It became still and was at the turning point when it would start to head out to sea again. During this period of calm, fish started to appear at the water's edge - possibly salmon or trout, I couldn't' see.

Half an hour of calmness when the tide wasn't go in or out.

Then at 1.40pm the river turned - it was heading back out to sea.

Sandbanks started to appear.

The afternoon went by slowly, less playing and more observing. Soaking up the sounds and sights.

Very few birds about - a few oystercatchers, a cormorant, 2 herons but lots of butterflies and ladybirds.

Only saw 1 man for the whole time. He asked me what I was doing.

'I'm watching the tide for 12 hours.'

'For science?' he asked.

'No, just observing it.' I said

Added a few extra pieces to the corrugated shack, including the muddied cloth.

Looking to Sharpness. The water has gone and the sandbanks are revealed once more.

I left the River Severn at 6.30pm. 2-3 hours to go before low tide happened again.