Day 4
Installed in Garden D : Tuesday 10th August 2021. Approx. 6pm
Tuesday 17th August 2021. Approx. 6pm
Changes noted: Only subtle changes after one week, some fraying at the edges of the white fabric on the left-hand side, perhaps a slight puckering of the moon fabric and a small fly crawling across as I took the photos.
Saturday 21st August 2021. Approx. 12pm
Changes noted: A very tiny snail was crawling around the moon and a large snail was at the side of the panel, perhaps the mother?
Tuesday 24th August 2021. Approx. 6pm
Changes noted: The small snail had moved significantly towards the stars but sadly had gone into its shell and the host of the panel told me it hadn’t moved for some time. I guess it had found no nutrients on the fabric. The large snail had disappeared.
Tuesday 7th September 2021. Approx. 7pm
Changes noted: The panel seems to be in a very sheltered part of the garden, so I have not witnessed it blowing in the wind as I have some of the other panels and so little wear and tear and only very subtle changes. The small snail has gone. On a balmy, unusually warm September evening I did notice some small marks on the cloth and various creatures crawling over the work.
Tuesday 21st September 2021. Approx. 6pm
Changes noted: Very little change except for some mould appearing, a water-like streak appearing, fraying and the white Japanese Anemones growing in a pot below have now reached the height of the panel.
Tuesday 28th September 2021. Approx. 6pm
Changes noted: I am not sure if there has been changes or rather, I am just more aware of the subtle transformations that were already happening last week – the dirt/ mould and rain streaks and the fringing at the bottom of the calico panel. Presumably, however subtle, and noticeable or not to the eye, changes have continued over the last seven days. Outwith the panel, the beautiful Japanese Anemones have lost their petals.
Tuesday 26th October 2021. Approx. 6.00pm
Changes noted: For various reasons I have not been able to visit this panel for the last three weeks and suddenly it had disappeared, behind the bamboo matting on which it was fixed. The host told me this had been a common occurrence over the last weeks with the heightened gustier Autumn winds. They had, however, chosen to keep returning it back to its original position. Having returned the panel to the front of the matting the wind again began to blow. As I photographed the panel the wind lifted the fabric up, higher each time, eventually depositing it back behind the matting again. After the final photograph I detached the panel from the fencing and took it home.
Changes noted (cont. Wednesday 27th October 2021.) The panel, particularly on the left-hand side, ‘night’, had got significantly dirtier and darker over the intervening weeks since I had last photographed it. The sun, in the same calico fabric as the night panel, had also continued to darken due to dirt/mould. As it was dusk last night when I documented the work and too dark to take detailed photographs last night, I documented those changes this morning.
The final photograph shows the hosts garden empty of its’ Day 4 artwork.
DAY 4: January 22 – June 2022
Coming Reinstalled in Garden D: Monday 17th January 2022. Approx. 1.45 pm
It was one of those beautiful sunny, crisp winter days and what was wondeful to see and photograph was the play of light and shadows on and around the cloth after I had installed it.
Saturday 16th February 2022. Approx. 5.30pm
Changes noted: The panel was fixed to the bamboo fencing via a hook at the top left and stitched with cotton thread at the righthand side. The host informed me that she had to take the panel down because of the high winds, the stitching hadn’t been strong enough to hold it. I duly re-hooked, and this time wired or sewed the panel at each of its three corners hoping that this would do the job. I suspect the panel had been down for some time, I had been unable to visit for a while.
Saturday 22nd March 2022. Approx. 6.35pm
Changes noted: I was glad to see that it was still in place. Very little change, if any, was noted to the panel itself – this has been the case throughout this project – it seems to be in a very sheltered spot. The garden around the panel had however changed, the planters previously under the panel, moved to one side and bushes and the tree to its right had been heavily pruned. One of main reasons for pruning was to enable more light into the garden, yet for now, it was rather barren, though perhaps with an air of expectation. Standing further back, a tub of flowering daffodils quietly reminded us, as dusked approached on a cold March evening, that spring was, if not totally evident in this garden as yet, on its way.
Tuesday 29th March 2022
Changes noted: The clocks changed on the 27th March so despite being rainy and grey the day is still lighter than at, approximately, the same time as the week before. The daffodils are still in full flower but are now joined (seen in the background of the photograph) by some newly blossoming purple flowers in a pot near the panel. More detailed photographs of the cloth show more weathered surfaces, though this may have been exaggerated by the rain.
Wednesday 20th April 2022.
A photograph sent by host shows little change in the cloth but a tub of tulips now growing on the right-hand side of the panel.
Tuesday 14th June 2022.
Changes noted: seemingly little changes again to the cloth. A single rose is blooming to the right, pansies to the left and generally more plants are coming to life in the garden around the panel. Some in pots and interestingly wild strawberries which have self-seeded in the cracks of the paving below. A fly had landed on the panel and sadly the fox family living in the garden at no time came to pose in front of the cloth, but I wonder if they had examined it?
And the panel was taken down ready to be exhibited at the Solas festival. The host was lamenting the loss of their garden artwork, to bring it back or not, that is the question.