Connect with nature
...and shift your thinking
Dear reader, how are you? I know, this is quick, isn’t it? Time was when I wrote to you weekly, and it really tailed off for a while there. What can I say? Combining being a mum to twin teenage girls on the cusp of sitting their exams with running a business means squeezing a lot in - like being everything, everywhere, all at once. I want this year to be different, spending more time focusing on the good things in life, time with my favourite people, walking regularly, writing and continuing to big up wildflowers.
It was a good start! I went to the cinema last Friday with one of my favourite people, my daughter Daisy, we went to see Nosferatu. I didn’t know it was coming out until I received Vampire Flower Ink, the latest newsletter from Toronto Ink Company - head over and have a look around. I found Jason Logan’s book Make Ink five years ago when I first started experimenting with natural colour. It’s a great link, isn’t it? Daisy wanted to see Nosferatu because: Robert Pattinson, love of her life, and I wanted to see it because: natural colour. Still a horror film though! I’m easily scared, but Daisy was rapt, she loves vampires (and bats). And that’s what really matters.
Spending time doing the good things recharges me to get to grips with the other things I have to do including working on my pieces for the Floribunda exhibition in Southport (1st February - 15th March, Atkinson Gallery). I looked back through my archives and here’s the first bramble I ever made (2020) along with this week’s version. I think I’m seeing an improvement! Although I clearly remember my delight back in 2020 after first examining a bramble flower really up close, magnified, and seeing the extraordinary detail and variation between every single flower.
Dog roses and these little pink flowers were some of my first attempts at recreating flowers using paper. The only way to do it is to look, really closely. But - a word of advice - don’t be disheartened if you can’t find the real thing. Many of the flowers I’ve made over the years have been created following book and web based research. And when it comes to wildflowers, I am often working from references which, in real life, are so small I can barely see the details I want to replicate.
Often I read the relevant Wikipedia entry - so much more detail than many of the flower books. And that’s OK! I’ve been thinking about the differences between ‘connecting to nature’ vs ‘being in nature’ again, a timely reminder that the purpose behind so much of my work concerns this notion of a connection to nature. Spending time in nature (‘being in nature’) is recommended as an antidote to the stresses and strains of modern life, with the success of a national NHS test programme underlining the importance of interaction with nature for both mental and physical health1. But there is a fundamental difference between ‘being in’ nature and ‘connecting to’ nature. Being in nature, or having a ‘dose of nature’, suggests that when not ‘in nature’, we are outside of it. A ‘dose of nature’, like taking a pill, is time limited, a part time experience. To develop a connection to nature is to develop a relationship, an emotional bond, seeing ourselves as part of nature. Developing a connection to nature is an important step in healing our fractured thinking, bringing with it a paradigm shift, an altered worldview, a change in behaviour. We make different choices when we realise that the harm we are doing to nature is, by extension, harm to ourselves.2
It’s hard to reconcile this frozen vista of the pond with the fires burning in LA right now and the news confirmed this morning that in 2024 we exceeded the ‘safe limit’ of 1.5 degrees warming. We all must do what we can, and if you feel stuck, getting to know and love the nature in your little corner of the world is a great place to start.
With love, as always, Ling
PS NEWS FROM THE STUDIO!
Starting on 4th February my brand new classes “Blossom and Create” will be happening twice daily every Tuesday, choose between the daytime class (11am - 1pm) or the evening class (7pm - 9pm). Every month we’ll be focussing on different flowers, starting with spring flowers in February (and possible a smattering of roses!). Think snowdrops, crocus and paper whites. (and if you come to 4 classes, you get one free!). The wonderful art of paper flower making is about so much more than making flowers. Spending time with plants and flowers and learning how to create them using nothing more than paper, wire and glue deepens your connection to nature as you learn to look in a new way. Inspiration is everywhere, and there is always a new bloom to make. All tools and materials are provided, and classes are £25 a session. Book one class at a time or join the loyalty card scheme. For every four classes, you can attend an additional class for free!
Images and photography throughout by Ling Warlow
https://beyondgreenspace.net/2024/09/04/green-social-prescribing-test-and-learn-pilots-national-evaluation-final-report-published/
See “Nature Contact is not Connection“ Professor Miles Richardson findingnature.org.uk