A new group exhibition, 'Bloom' at Cardiff M.A.D.E. from 18th May 2017

It will be the third time to take part in the group exhibition at Cardiff M.A.D.E.

This time I brought 2 new larger screen prints and 3 previous small screen prints.



'BLOOM' Spring Affordable Art Wall
at Cardiff M.A.D.E.
41Lochaber Street
Cardiff
CF24 3LS

Opening event: on Thursday at 18:00-21:00

March&April from British Wild Plants Calendar 2017

Blackthorn

Prunus spinosa

Order: Rosales

Family: Rosaceae

Genus: Prunus

habitat: headgerows, open woods, sunny meadow edges

 widespread and common throughout the UK isles

Blackthorn starts blooming in early spring before its leaves come out.  There are other early spring wild flowers like snowdrops, daffodils and so on, but when blackthorn is in full bloom, I feel spring really arrives.

The flowers are tiny (around 2 cm) with white five petals are thickly together on branches.  They tend to grow in colonies, which look white walls or waterfalls(because leaves are not coming yet and flowers cover their trees) alongside meadows or sunny fields.

I'm excited when seeing blackthorn bushes full in bloom and looking forward to the spring coming soon after the wet cold winter.

Sloe (blackthorn's fruits; from calendar 2014)

The fruits are called sloe, well-known as the ingredient for sloe gin, are tiny dark blue (almost black) ball-shaped.  The fruits get ripe towards the end of September until the first frost some time around November (here in the south east Wales we hardly have frost in November, even throughout the winter).  

Bees have started working busy outside.  They must have been waiting for the blackthorn's aromatic flower nectar.  It won't be long!

January&February from British Wild Plants Calendar 2017

Common Hogweed

Heracleum sphondylium

Order: Apiales

Family: Apiaceae

Genus: Heracleum

habitat: in meadows, open woodlands, on roadside verges

distribution: widespread and common throughout the UK isles

Common hogweed is a carrot family, common hogweed is found almost everywhere in the UK.  As the winter here, south east Wales, is mild, delicate buds comes out from the grounds in the late winter such as common hogweed as well as other wild plants.  

Seeds are elliptical and hairless, of which umbels radiate outward from the centre of each stem.  In early summer to summer tiny white flowers in umbels blooms among other carrot family plants.

Giant hogweed is in the same family, but it was introduced as one of the ornamental plants to the UK, and naturalised.  Its appearance is similar to common hogweed, but it is impressively gigantic (2-3 meters) and grows mostly at riversides.

So, this image can be seen in the winter when  we walk in meadows.  The sees pods are almost fallen on the ground but some seeds are still on the umbels.

Today, it was cold but dry and sunny afternoon.  The January blue sky was above the wintry meadow with the mixture of brown of dead plants and green of grass and ever green.



*I had used one vinyl plate for each print before, which means I put a lot of colours on on plate.  For this year's calendar, though, two plates were used for each print.  To be noted; one wild plant print is for 2 month.  I will update the plant story in January (now), March, May, July, September and November.

December Calendar 2016: Holly

I haven't updated for a while.  This is the story about the december plant of the last year.

December: Holly

Winter Feature

Ilex aquifolium
quifolialesOrder: Caryophyllales
Family: Aquifoliaceae
Genus: Ilex

habitat: sunny to shady space
distribution: widespread throughout the British Isles

Holly is the send time for my calendar series.  This holly is very common in the UK, and we can find everywhere in gardens, parks, woodland, etc.  Addition to that, I know now, these prickly leaves belong to young shrubs.

They can become quite tall tree up to around 15 metre. As they grow the leaves become not prickly, just like camellia's ones.  (Though, there are many species with not prickly leaves.)

Our holly trees had fairly amount of red berries in the autumn.  Alas, they were eaten up by birds before I needed them for decorating my Advent (Christmas) wreath.

Winter Affordable Art Show at Cardiff M.A.D.E from Thursday 1st December 2016 - 12th February 2017

Cardiff M.A.D.E will hold their seasonal 'Winter Affordable Art Show' from Thursday 1st December 2016 to 31st January 2017.  (Extended to 12th February 2017)

Some of my winter-themed screen prints are shown during the exhibition period.  They will have also winter fayre with handmade craft by local artisans.  If you are around there, please pop in to see!

November Calendar 2016: Dogwood

November: Dogwood

Meadow

Cornus sanguinea
Order: Cornales
Family: Cornaceae
Genus: Cornus

habitat: sunny hedgerows, scrubs
distribution: common in Wales and England

In November, leaves of most of deciduous trees turns yellow and red, and are falling on the ground. We see red patches in hedgerows.  This is dogwood, native to the UK, of which leaves are still on the stems and small navy blue (almost black) berries still not pecked by birds.

It blooms in early summer, and its white flowers are tiny and make a lot of clusters on the bush, a little bit similar to elder flower.

After all the leaves and berries are gone, the crimson red new twigs   comes out.  The striking colour brightens up the bare grey winter field.

There was frost this morning after the Guy Fawkes Night; the temperature dropped almost 0 Celsius.  All of sudden, the winter came very close.

October Calendar 2016: Sorrel

October: Sorrel or Dock

Meadow

Rumex acetosa
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Rumex

or as dock
Rumex obtusifolius
Order: Caryphyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Rumex

habitat: open grassy space
distribution: widespread throughout the British Isles

I thought it was sorrel when I worked on this print. But it can be dock.  They belong to the same family, which is why they look quite similar.  But the leaves of sorrel are smaller than the ones of dock, and shaped like arrows.  The leaves of this print are bigger and longer and not arrow-like.  I can tell now it is dock, which can be seen everywhere on grasslands, roadside etc.

I was confused to distinguish between sorrel and dock, for it was because the flowers are resemble as they are both of the same polygonaceae family.  Both are edible plants, though, only young leaves can taste.  Nowadays you can even buy sorrel leaves for salad, which are usually mixed together with other salad leaves.

The seeds of both dock and sorrel turn fiery red (soon after brown as they dry) in the autumn.  I found the seeds are also edible and the grounded seeds can be used as flour.  No wonder, dock is a buckwheat family.  But I cannot guarantee how its flour goes well as an ingredient.  Besides you have to harvest a massive amount of seeds.

Dock is known for a herbal remedy, especially to ease the nettle sting.  (See my blog on September 2016 'Nettle')as NHS Choice says on its website.

Dock and sorrel, both grow widely all over the Europe (even they can be seen in Japan).  They grow everywhere, on grassland, roadside, footpath, between the stones of pavement, sometimes through the tarred surface.  Although we see them everywhere, these wild plants are often neglected.  Let us enjoy the autumnal colour, and try the young leaves next spring.

September Calendar 2016: Wall Barley

September: Wall Barley

On the Coastal Walk

Hordeum murinum
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Hordeum

habitat: open coastal space
distribution: widespread in the south

Wall barley is a species of grass, grows in grassland, abandoned wasteland, and wherever the seeds are scattered like roadside. It looks like barley.  But it is just, so called, a weed.  This is why it has an unwelcoming name, false barley.  However, a weed is a wild plant.  Cultivated plant were cultivated from wild plants so that human could digest them better and/or they could taste better(sweeter, milder, softer etc.) for human.

Anyway, it was a stunning view at a beach cliff when we were walking on a windy weekend, like (conventional) barley field.  The spiky sun-bleached yellow ochre grass heads were bending, swinging, this way, another way, as the wind from the sea blew over them.

The blue sky looks more blue and clear; the sunlight comes from farther back.  Autumn has come.

August Calendar 2016: Nettle

August: Nettle

Stingy Herb

Urtica dioica
Order: Rosales
Family: Urticaceae
Genus: Urtica

habitat: sunny to shady spot
distribution: throughout British Isles

Mid summer, mature grasses turn yellow and ochre, which add the autumnal tone in the meadows.

Nettle, well-known as stinging nettle, are flourishing almost everywhere we walk in the meadows, along roadside.  Unless you are careful, the notorious hairs allover the plants sting your bare skin, which causes very unpleasant painful stinging sensation for a while.

I read a fairy-tale about a poor princes and her 11 brother princess as a child.  The brothers were changed into swans by a witch. (It was the story in an Andersen's fairy tale)  When I knew this stingy plant was called nettle, I suddenly remembered this tale.  The princess had to collect with her bear hands and stamp with her bare feet to make vests for her brothers in order to rescue them.  At that time I read it, I couldn't imagine what nettle looked like because I was in Japan as a child, where no nettle grew.  I just imagined how painful and unpleasant her task could have been.

You shouldn't scratch or rub where itches because as the toxic chemicals(histamine and acetylcholine) are injected into the skin through very tiny needle-like tubes and it worsens the symptom.  The NHS Choices describes that in case of being stung by nettle rubbing dock leaves on the rash, which neutralises the chemicals of nettle sting.  But better to avoid touch/brush nettle at all.

So unpopular plant has been widely used for food, medicine, textiles and so forth.  I've never cooked its leaves, but have had a nettle soup as a starter in a restaurant in Swiss Alps.  The creamy soup had lightly sour grassy taste.  I forgot the main and the dessert but can still remember the soup as it was so impressive to me that the nettle, the wild plant, was used for dish in a restaurant.

Young leaves in the spring (to the early summer) are used for food. Now toward the end of the summer, nettle has creamy yellow (some spices have pinkish or light green ones.)flowers, which hang from its leaf axils like a small hairy balls.

Cicely Mary Barker, the illustrator well known for the flower fairies in the early 20th century, hasn't create a nettle fairy.  Sorry for nettle!

July Calendar 2016: Common Mallow

July: Common Mallow

Under the Blue Sky

Malva stkvestrus
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Malva

habitat: sunny open space
distribution: throughout British Isles, common in the south

Its slightly purplish pink flowers are attractive in the midsummer.  
Walking on cliff tops, I often find colonies of common mallow.  They can get full sun but it can be quite windy at the seashores.  They are quite strong against harsh environment (wind, coldness etc.).  And, they are even edible!

Leaves, flowers, seeds and roots are all edible.  Leaves are a bit hairy but you cook or fry them like as spinach. You can toss the young soft leaves onto salad.(You can use them between spring and early summer.)  Petals can be used for garnishing salads to add nice colour, or for making tea.  Another name of mallow is cheese.  It came from the appearance of its fruit, which looks like a cheese wheel. (See the poem by Cicely Mary Barker below) They can be eaten when they are still green. (I never tried them.  So, I'll do later in this summer.)  Root can be cooked like burdock root, which are widely cultivated as a popular vegetable in Japan.  I've never tried mallow root.

My husband created a small patch in our garden, and sowed wild flower seeds this spring.  Now various summer flowers like poppy, borage etc.  Among those some tiny mallow plants are flowering as well. So small and few that we'd rather prefer to enjoy seeing the flowers than forage.

The Song of The Mallow Fairy

I am Mallow; here sit I
Watching all the passers-by.
Though my leaves are torn and tattered,
Dust-besprinkled, mud-bespattered,
See, my seeds are fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
These are what an elf will much
For his supper or his lunch.

Fairy housewives, going down
To their busy market-town,
Hear ,e wheedling: "Lady, please,
Pretty lady, buy a cheese!"
And I never find it matters
That I'm nicknamed Rags-and-Tatters,
For they buy my fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheese!

 Cicely Mary Barker's A Flower Fairy Alphabet(Cicely Mary Barker, The Complete Book of the Flower-Fairies, Warne, 2002)

June Calendar 2016: Elder

June: Elder

Early Summer's Delight

Sambucus
Order: Dipsacales
Family: Adoxaceae
Genus: Sambucus

habitat: sunny open space
distribution: throughout British Isles

All those chilly spring days held the plant growing, but eventually, the leaves and flowers burst with colours. 

While the waterfall-like of Hawthorn's white flowers is now receding, the elder's white flowers are taking over.

Elder likes a lot of sun light, at hedgerows, around and in meadows, parks and gardens.  The flower head is a cluster of tiny flowers, and has pleasantly sweet scent.  The leaves of five leaflets are pinnate and toothed, similar to ash leaves.

My teenage son has been keeping an eye on the elder bushes.  I've been also looking for the white flowers on the trees.  Surprisingly they are seen almost everywhere, on roadsides, wastelands, in parks, someone's gardens, except for our gardens (sadly).

Anyway he's looking forward to make his own elder flower cordial this season of every year because the cordial is his favourite summer drink. (Of course, he kindly offers us to share his cordial.) 

Yesterday we went for a walk in a warm breezy evening.  Some clusters of white flower already started blooming in the bush.  He sniffed at the flower, and said 'It smells sweet, but not fully enough.  We should wait for a little while until they bloom more.'  Yes, the natural perfume of the flower is the key to the cordial.

When the flower reaches full in bloom, he and I go to collect the creamy white fragrant flower heads.  (You can look at the previous dairy about elder flower cordial.)  In the end of foraging, we are powdered with the cream yellow pollen. But it's fine because it makes the cordial champagne gold, which is nice when we pour the sparkling water onto the syrup in a clear glass.  It looks just like a glass of champagne, really a refreshing summer drink.

Today's Guardian's weekend magazine has Yotam Ottolenghi's elderflower's dessert of tempura (fritter) and ice cream.  Ice cream with elderflower fragrant (sirup is used) sounds very tempting.

The Song of The Elder Fairy

When the days have grown in length,

When the sun has greater power,

Shining in his noonday strength;

When the Elder Tree's in flower,

When each shady kind of place

By the stream and up the lane,

Shows its mass of creamy lace -

Summer's really come again!

 Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies of the Trees(Cicely Mary Barker, The Complete Book of the Flower-Fairies, Warne, 2002)

May Calendar 2016: Red Campion

May: Red Campion

Attractive Vivid Pink  

Silene dioica
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Silene

habitat: partially shady to sunny spot
distribution: throughout British Isles

May is the beginning of the summer!  As the spring atmosphere is fading, the greenness of young leaves becomes vibrant, more and more colourful flowers appear.

Here is red campion, with impressive vibrant deep pink flowers.  It can be seen often around woodlands, under hedges or in fields.  The cluster of flowers are on the top of hairy brilliant green leaves.

These pink flowers add colourfulness to the early summer green, just like a hint of delicate spice.  When you see the pink flowers, the summer is coming soon!

New! Spring Screen Print: 'Bluebells and Wood Mice'

New! Screen Print

'Bluebells and Wood Mice'

10x10cm on 21x21cm 270gsm paper

3 colours (water based acrylic ink)

The new screen print for this spring is now ready.

The new series sticks to the small 10x10 cm square size, but 3 colours are used (the previous series was used 2 colours.)  The background looks black in the picture but actually dark brown which adds softer atmosphere to the image.

After having made the latest original paper-cutting piece earlier this year,I worked on the computer to coordinate the colours.  Then I brought it to Printhaus in Cardiff.  (Although it's not hard to draw and create paper-cutting work, I cannot do screen print by myself because of my wrists' problem.)  Thanks again to the Printhaus in Cardiff for finishing the screen print work for me!

(Printhaus is an arts collective, based in Cardiff, Wales, UK, that actively supports local artists and offers small scale commissions from them like me.)

I am trying to reopen my Etsy shop soon.  This new screen prints as well as previous prints will be on sale.

'Bluebells and Wood Mice' was inspired from my favourite woodland near by our house.  It's a brief period of bluebell bloom, from late April to early May.  The native British (or Welsh) bluebells, not the cultivated Spanish one, thrives in ancient woods of mixed deciduous trees such as beech, ash etc.  We usually don't see animals that live in the woods, but can imagine their story.  Tiny wood mice and other small creatures, such as frog like in the picture, are busying themselves after waking up from hibernation, far away from a fox, roaming unknowingly elsewhere.

The first edition of 25 was put in a picture frame.  This size fits to a conventional picture frame from such as IKEA, NEXT, John Lewis, or of course a frame shop where you can order a tailor-made frame.

April Calendar 2016: Lords and Ladies

April: Lords and Ladies

Elegant Shiny Green

Arum maculatum
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Arum

habitat: shady places
distribution: throughout British Isles
except the northern Scotland

This March was chilly after the mild but wet quite stormy winter.  April has started with the cloudy chilly day, but hopefully the warm spring will catch up soon.  Buds and sprouts have been awaiting the bright warm days.  Birds are busy with making new nests, couples of butterflies are flying in the air, bumble bees have appeared from their winter shelters to collect nectar from early spring flowers.

Lords and Ladies (other names: arum maculatum, cuckoo-pint or Jack-in-the-Pulpit) appears quite early.  The glossy soft bright green young leaves come from the ground even in January in sheltered from the harsh weather, beneath bushes, at the foot of hedges, in woods etc.  The leaves look like spinach, though, the strong acidic taste causes irritating mouth and stomach upset; so, better not eaten. (Poison Garden Website, RHS: Arum Maculatum)

You can find much more delicious edible wild plants in the spring such as wild garlic, nettle, violet etc.

Like lesser celandine, lords and ladies is very sturdy, rather invasive.  Our garden in the shade is getting occupied more and more by them now among the early dog violet (which is also very sturdy).

The mature leaves are arrow-shaped. Two leaves are spread outward and the pale yellow-green spathe (the colour of the spathe in my print is green because of the printing method) comes out in between, in which a club-shaped brown purple spadix is loosely wrapped.  The shape of this plant is distinctive among the other wild plants.  The poem of the flower fairies (by Cicely Mary Barker) explains what it's like.  While many spring flowers have colourful bright colours, yellow, pink, white etc., lords and ladies isn't much more colourful, but the appearance is gorgeous.

Here is again a poem of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies of the Spring (Cicely Mary Barker, The Complete Book of the Flower-Fairies, Warne, 2002).

The Song of THE LORDS AND LADIES FAIRY

Here's the song of Lords-and-Ladies

(in the damp and shade he grows):

I have neither bells nor petals,

like the foxglove or the rose,

Through the length and breadth of England,

many flowers you may see---

Petals, bells, and cups in plenty---

but there's no one else like me.

In the hot-house dwells my kinsman,

Arum-lily, white and fine;

I am not so tall and stately,

but the quaintest hood is mine;

And my glossy leaves are handsome;

I've a spike to make you stare;

And my berries are a glory in September.

(BUT BEWARE!)