Flowers in colourful bloom at the Walled garden in Norton Priory

Walled Gardens, Wildflower Meadow and Knitted Trees

Knitted Tree

Knitted Drainpipe and Flowers

Knitted Tree Monster

This morning I spent my time alongside artist Carys Hughes and her fellow Wednesday Woollies, attaching our beautiful knitted pieces to the trees of the Walled garden at Norton Priory. It was a lovely mornings work; stitching the knitted panels (from the Creative Runcorn Project) to the branches and trunks of the trees. The organic nature of the tree leant itself well to the knitting which curved and twisted its way round the natural structure. I hope that with time the knitting will become as much a part and feature of the garden as are the flowers and the bees. The knitting will remain in situe for one year at Norton Priory and will be documented on a monthly basis to see how nature responds to its new and woolly friend.

Tree Drawing with Crows

'When the Crow Flies'

Tree-scape

Draw, Mark, Enjoy! Street art - Part II

Also on the day there was a chance for each child to take part and win a mini floor art competition. The task: to create a small pavement drawing based on the theme of Widnes. The media: various coloured chalks. The Duration: 1.5 Hours.

Here are a few of my favourites from the day:

Blue boats with sunshine

The Bridge and Fiddlers Ferry

House with pink tree

On the 30th June 2011 four artists, fifty five children and lots of chalk came together to produce an instant piece of temporary art to decorate the well worn floors of Widnes outdoor market. Working alongside artists Philip Battle, Catherine McMahon and Paula Weetman we began our morning early, marking out the design for our 3-dimensional colour chasm. It was liberating experience working on such a scale, having been used to a needle, thread and relatively small canvas by comparison for the best part of 3 years. By mid-morning we had our design masked out and the children began to arrive, all eagerly awaiting to partake in our live piece of street art that they had all had small taster sessions for days earlier.

Hand-drawn portraits of the children by themselves

A snapshot of the main event

The children quickly set to work on detailing the chasm with pattern, marks and colour. Under strict instruction one school had been asked to use coloured chalks with black and the other coloured chalks with white.This would mean that upon completion the design when viewed through the lens of a camera would give the impression of a 3-dimensional chasm cut away into the earths floor.

Street art detailing

In little under six hours the children had completed their massive undertaking to create a vibrant piece of pavement art that adorned the once overlooked floors of Widnes market. It was a fantastic achievement and made a wonderful statement in the centre of Widnes town.

Images from the day

P.s. A big thank you to Philip Battle and Catherine McMahon of Urban Canvas for allowing me to take part in my first piece of street art, and also to the wonderful children & staff of St. Bedes and St. Gerards primary school.

Colourful chalk pots!