Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
All things being Equal
- 21 September 2011
- click to send Christine a smile
Autumnal Equinox: September the 23rd
The artist uses the talent he has, wishing he had more talent. The talent uses the artist it has, wishing it had more artist.
R Brault
It is the time of year when we are all feathering our nests. Its not nearly cold enough to complain but summer is most certainly drawing to an end. Friday, September the 23rd, is the Autumnal Equinox (aequus meaning equal and nox meaning night in Latin) which means we will have an equal amount of day light hours as night darkness.
I wanted my fan to hint to the radiantly warm summer we had in Vancouver but also be comforting for the cold days ahead. Just like autumn!
The fan is shaped in a sector of a circle, glued on equal length wooden slats (nice word for 18 up-cycled Birch coffee stir sticks) which revolve around a pivot so that it can be closed when not in use or opened wide when dressed up for fall.
I wove my fan out of tufts of grass flower heads, gathered and threaded through the fan slats.
The stray grass spikelets are neatly tucked in and fanned out to create a soft veil of green for the matt fall leaves.
Bright and shiny red orange Viburnum berries add colour contrast and balance to this textural design.
The design was woven so securely that it dried beautifully. The grass and the leaves became slightly paler and softer in colour- blending even better with the wood of the fan. I am still waiting for the berries to dry- they are still plump and red and beautiful a week after I took these pictures!
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