Tuesday, November 29, 2011

tie a yellow ribbon




I was keen to make something outdoors when I went for a walk at the weekend. My son and husband decided they were cold and wanted to go home so I was left to get on with it myself. There were still a lot of autumn leaves on the ground; sycamore, horse chestnut, oak and a small yellow leaf that I can't identify. You can see it in the second and third photos. It has a sort of fruit on it in late summer. Does anyone know? The sycamore leaves were an amazing bright yellow. I tucked some into some ivy that was curling around the trunk of a tree. There is a custom of tying a yellow ribbon around a tree to symbolize waiting love that goes back to Roman times. This tree is at the bottom of a flight of stairs frequently used by dog walkers. In fact I bumped into a friend walking her spaniel and felt a little odd to be standing there, on my own, with a handful of leaves. I also made a little forest sunflower with the sycamore leaves and a horse chestnut shell. Doing an activity like this definitely made me look at my surroundings more closely and notice the different colours, textures and shapes much more than if I was just walking through.

8 comments:

  1. Loving the yellow leaf ribbon. I love artwork created using natural products. Are you familiar with Andy Goldsworthy? He does some amazing works of natural art.

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  2. Thanks Wellywoman. Yes I've known about him since art college. I always thought that making stuff outside was HIS thing, so have never taken an interest myself. Recently, when I read about 'land art', I realised it's something anyone can do and folks have been making things out in the natural environment since ancient times; usually on a much grander scale using earth and stone.

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  3. The yellow ribbon of leaves is very nice. At first I thought the tree grew the leaves that way. Very pretty yellow. I don't know what your mystery leaf is. It looks kind of like a type of maple though. What does the fruit look like?

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  4. I think it was like a pear. I must take photos next year.

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  5. Your leaves belong to the Field Maple...aka the English Maple.

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  6. Ah thanks Tanya. With the seeds you can make helicopters with. Ok, so this isn't the tree with the pear like fruit on it. I clearly haven't been looking as closely as I thought!

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  7. Their seeds are called 'Keys'...the same as in Ash keys. I always think they look like dragonfly wings myself :)

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