Day 5
Installed in Garden E: Saturday 14th August 2021. Approx. 11.30am
The light changed beautifully over the next hour.
Wednesday 25th August 2021
A photograph sent by the host of ‘Day 5’ noting the long shadow lying diagonally across the panel.
Thursday 26th August 2021. Approx. 4pm
Changes noted: Little if anything had changed to the fabric surface of the textile panel in the 12 days since Day 5 was installed in Garden E. However, Day 5 is nailed onto a wooden fence sitting above a stone wall, the spaces between the wood and stone allow the light to seep through. The look of the panel can therefore continually change depending on the strength of the sun and the time of the day. I was able to capture some of these light changes over the late afternoon and early evening hours on this visit.
Another external change is the growing foliage around the panel, especially the honeysuckle on the right-hand side which is starting to cross the panel and bloom. It will be interesting to see whether the plant residue colours the panel at any point.
Saturday 28th August 2021. Approx 10am
A photograph sent by the host of the mid-morning sun hitting the panel.
Monday 30th August 2021. Approx. 12.30pm
A photograph sent by the host of the growing and blooming honeysuckle, harmonizing beautifully with the gold leaf.
Sunday 5th September 2021. Approx. 2pm
A photograph sent by the host of the light patterns in the early afternoon light.
Monday 6th September 2021. Approx. 9.30am
A photograph sent by the host noting the interest of a pigeon who left his/her mark on the panel!
Tuesday 7th September 2021. Approx. 8pm
A photograph sent by the host noting the appearance of red berries alongside the honeysuckle.
Friday 9th September 2021. Approx. 9.30m
A photograph sent by the host. A visiting blackbird.
Saturday 11th September 2021. Approx. 9.30m
A photograph sent by the host. Shadows and dappeled morning light.
Sunday 12th September 2021. Approx. 10.30am
Changes noted: Small changes, perhaps the most significant was the pigeon droppings, as documented by the host 6th September. As there are many birds living and frequenting this garden it is surprising that more marks have not appeared – perhaps more will, in time. The honeysuckle flowers, apart from one or two as seen above, have largely died back. Autumnal red berries are now appearing, disappointingly neither have left any coloured stains of marks on the cloth.
Monday 13th September 2021. Approx. 8.50am and 11.15am
Photographs sent by the host on noting red berries and changing light.
Wednesday 15th September 10.15am and Thursday 16th September 10.00am, 2021
Contrasting photographs sent by the host again showing different light.
Monday 20th September 2021. Approx. 10.00am
Photograph sent by the host. Blue skies, red berries and autumnal light.
Saturday 25th September 2021. Approx. 11.00am- 12.30pm
Changes noted: When I arrived the righthand side of the panel had got caught up in some of the nearby foliage. The host untangled it while I documented. The honeysuckle, once winding its way across the panel, now only had one or two flowers left on its branches. While there are quite a few red berries to the right of the panel those near the butterfly motif had gone – dropped off or eaten? There is a brown stain around the butterfly area which may have come from the berries or its branch. It is brown not red perhaps suggesting the branch.
The panel is getting much dirtier – lots of vertical streaks particularly on the left-hand side – presumable from the rain. The host has cleared quite a bit of the foliage from that side and in front of the panel leaving it more exposed, so this might explain why it is more marked at that side. There are subtler dirtier marks on the righthand side seen on the photos below above the ‘d’ of the word Blessed.
Prior to my arrival the host sent me a photo (bottom right) of a spider on the panel, sadly it was gone by the time I got to the garden. I was amused though that it was photographed crawling over the stitched spiders web motif of the panel. It clearly prefers to wander off and create its own.
Sunday 26th September 2021. Approx. 6.00pm
Photograph sent by the host. An intrigued pigeon who chose not to leave a ‘comment’!
Sunday 3rd October 2021. Approx. 4.20pm
Photograph sent by the host. Panel blowing around on a blustery Autumn day. It also seems to have got a lot dirtier than when I visited it last.
Sunday 6th October 2021. Approx. 5.00pm
Photograph sent by the host. A ladder has now been placed on the left-hand side of the panel where greenery has been cleared from there and in front of the panel. A pigeon basks in the beautiful evening light – facing the wrong way to view the panel!
Sunday 7th October 2021. Approx. 10.00am
Photographs sent by the host. A long garden view, and in second photograph the pigeon is back for another look.
The panel is clearly blowing about this day as can be seen on the photographs below sent by the host, which apart from showing the wandering pigeon, show the cloth blown and folded by the wind. The first two photos here were taken at approx. 2.20pm and the final one at 7.30pm
Tuesday 12th October 2021. Approx. 3pm
Changes noted: This very sodden panel has definitely got much dirtier since last time I saw it. The most obvious change to note is the wonderful dark streaks down the top half of the panel caused by the rain. There are also some subtle marks that have transferred onto the cloth from the mould on the stone wall behind the panel. There is no longer any sign of the honeysuckle flowers, but one or two red berries are still to be seen. The panel has got folded and tangled, a little, in some nearby ivy. After photographing the panel I took it down and took it home to dry.
The final photograph sent by the host, Wednesday 3rd November, shows the garden empty of its’ Day 5 artwork.
DAY 5: January – June 2022
Reinstalled in Garden E: Thursday 30th January 2022. Approx. 12.50am
The ladders that sit on either side of the panel are now fully visible, due to the lack of leaves. In fact, I hadn’t even realised the right hand one was there but looking back at previous photographs it frame can vaguely be make out under the once thick foliage. The panel was secured with nails at the top and at an almost halfway point on either side. The wind suggested that bottom of the panel might move and possibly get caught on the nails.
Friday 31st January 2022. Approx. 12.31pm
A photograph sent the host showed the cloth, due to the wind, was and had in fact got caught on the nails. the host did however capture the momentary beautiful composition of triangles and gold created by the wind and light.
Friday 4th February 2022. Approx. 9.30am
Another photo sent by the host showed that while he had unhooked it from the nail, it had this time got caught in the branches of the surrounding honeysuckle.
Tuesday 1st March 2022. Approx. 12.30am
Changes noted: Arriving on 1st March the panel was once again caught on the top nails but also on closer inspection some of the threads had also become entangled around honeysuckle branches. I documented this before freeing the panel from the nail and the branches. It may have been the light but the panel seemed to have got dirtier. While the hydrangea and other plants were dried and brown, some signs of new life were also becoming evident.
Friday 11th March 2022. Approx. 9.15am
Two Photographs sent by host at 9.11 am and 9.15 am show the panel seemingly blending into the muted colours of its surroundings, particularly in the strange light of this March morning.
Tuesday 15th March – Friday 18th March 2022 Approx. 9.15am
A series of photographs sent by the host between the 15th and 18th March at approximately the same time in the morning show the wonderful shadows created on the cloth by the morning light. The final one also shows the changing of the seasons with the blossoming of the Cherry Blossom.
Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Approx. 9.15am
This photograph sent by the host continued to highlight both the amazing shadows and Cherry Blossom.
Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Approx. 11.20am
This photograph sent by the host – with the comment ‘pigeons back!’. The pigeon can be seen sat in a similar position on the wall above the panel throughout this project. Day 5 is about the birds of the air as well as the creatures of the sea! Although the photograph is taken only a day later than the above image it is very different this time it shows the muted colours of spring and with a hint of Cherry Blossom.
Friday 25th March 2022 Approx. 11.00am
Changes noted: Given the photographs sent by the host I had to go and photograph the Cherry Blossom for myself – its beauty is so fleeting. This project highlights that the natural world and our environment are continually changing. The world is continually in flux, moving on, never the same one minute from the next, our choice is how we respond to this change.
Japanese culture is based on change. The only thing that the Japanese find stable is that the seasons are four. The essence of the four seasons is that they keep on changing and changing. Look at the cherry blossom. The cherry is one of the symbols of Japanese culture and beauty. It flourishes all of a sudden. After a few days the weather starts getting cold, the rain falling, and the petals start falling and covering the ground as a carpet. Indeed, it’s beautiful. But the essence of enjoying the cherry blossom is that it withers away in one week. If the fine weather is too steady and the cherry lasts for more that a week, the Japanese get anxious, and uneasy, and ask themselves what is wrong with the universe. Everything is changing.
Based on the teaching of Zen Master Dogen, Adolfo Nicolás, COMMON APOSTOLIC DISCERNMENT, NUMBER 122- Review of Ignatian Spirituality, 9- 10, accessed 22nd Feb 2019. http://sjweb.info/documents/cis/pdfenglish/200912202en.pdfa
Red Current blossom was also coming into bloom on the opposite side of the panel.
In this season of transformation, alongside the signalling of spring in the beautiful blossoms, below the panel were the new green buds beginning to burst forth from seemingly brown barren branches, the wonderfully verdant green moss covering a stone and a ladybird on the dried petals of a hydrangea plant. The vestiges of winter still seen as Spring gradually breaks through.
Thursday 31st March 2022 Approx. 9.05am, 9.20am and 6.50pm
Three photos sent by the host, firstly of the snow-like Cherry Blossom covering the ground in front of the panel, secondly as he noted showing a ‘different shadow today.’ and thirdly taken much later in the day showing a wonderful cloud formation that host remarked was like a ‘dark Angel over creation…’
Sunday 3rd April 2022 Approx. 9.40am
Photo sent by the host of the panel showing the blossom on a sunny Sunday morning. It could almost be said there is an angelic like shadow on the panel this time, rather than in the sky above it. The Red Currant blossom is bright in this image too.
Friday 8th April 2022 Approx. 9.25am
Photo sent by the host. Another sunny morning yet this time there must have been a windy night as the panel is caught up on one of the nails. A lovely shadow touches the wall and top far right of the panel created by the Cherry Tree which is now changing colour due to its gradual loss of blossom.
Saturday 9th April 2022 Approx. 10.20am
Photo sent by the host showing a beautiful, if momentary, shadow projected on to the panel this time predominantly on its right-hand side. A plane has not long passed over leaving a contrail or vapour in the blue sky above, a reminder in this photograph of a small suburban garden of the wider world, travel and perhaps also of the climate justice issues behind this project.
Wednesday 13th April 2022 Approx. 3.00pm
Changes noted: the blossom is now mostly gone from the ground and the tree, however much more greenery is starting to appear around the panel.
Changes noted continued. While taking the photographs over a period of approximately 10 minutes I witnessed a beautiful light show – that of streaks of light breaking through the gaps in the fence and wall behind the panel constantly changing as the light did. I had wondered if the panels were actually getting cleaner again in the spring rains but seeing the photos below makes me think otherwise.
Saturday 16th April 2022 Approx. 9.45am
Photo sent by the host on Easter Saturday morning showing an odd light with grey sky and subtle shadows on both sides of the panel. The whole image is one of muted tones.
Sunday 24th April 2022 Approx. 1.45pm
The photos below sent by the host show blue skies and beautiful shadows on both the lawn and the cloth panel. The blossom has gone but the garden is verdant with new life.
Monday 16th May 2022 Approx. 11.05am
The photos below sent by the host on a rainy Monday morning shows the panel blown back on the central top nail, again, and well-marked by the rain. The main road closest to the hosts garden is one of the busiest in Edinburgh and therefore potentially one of the most polluted, many dirty particles brought by the rain.
Tuesday 17th May 2022 Approx. 18.35pm
The photo below sent by the host, more unusually in late afternoon/early evening show a very verdant garden including Pink Jasmine at the bottom right-hand side of the panel. This is a big contrast to my photos from visiting the garden approximately a month ago, although the gradual growth has been recorded by the host’s own images. The host comments that perhaps the panel will disappear over the summer due to such abundant growth. We shall see!
Thursday 19th May 2022 Approx. 9.00pm
Photo sent by the host: An unusual evening shot giving a blue tinge to the panel. The blue, gold and white colours in the cloth echo the colours of the evening sky.
Monday 23rd May 2022 Approx. 12.10pm
Photos sent by the host: Beautiful blue skies, and beautiful shadows, some at the bottom left of the panel but stronger on the grass than on the panel at this time of day.
Tuesday 24th May 2022 Approx. 11.30am
Photo sent by the host: the photo taken 30-40 mins earlier still has the shadow on the bottom left quarter of the panel, before it slips down totally on to the grass. The panel is becoming a sundial.
Thursday 26th May 2022 Approx. 9.10am
Photo sent by the host: The photo at 9.10 in the morning shows clear shadows on the right hand-side of the panel. The light is throwing a seemingly mottled effect over the whole panel, some of which is due to the light and others to the patterns made by the rain over previous months.
Monday 30th May 2022 Approx. 1.30-4.30pm
Changes Noticed: Several more marks had appeared on the panel; a pigeon dropping and some browner, more rust-coloured marks although it was hard to see what these might have been from. The foliage, the honeysuckle, on the right-hand side of the panel was beginning to obscure the cloth – the lettering ‘Blessed’ had disappeared under its leaves. Around the panel new blooms were appearing, a subtle white Bleeding Heart or Lyre Flower is almost hidden amongst the greenery and to the right of where the panel hangs a wondrously blooming dark pink bush of Old Fashioned Weigelia, it’s flowers apparently ideal for bees as they procure a lot of pollen. This would explain the number of bees flying around not previously seen or noticed when I had been documenting. Sadly, none managed to land on the panel for me to capture their photograph.
Changes Noticed Continued: on returning to the garden a few hours later the afternoon sun, a little lacking earlier, was bursting through the gaps in the fence on which the panel was hung. This produced bright, strong, wavy, horizontal lines across part of the cloth not seen since late last summer. As I am unable to visit the host before the panels are next to be exhibited I took it down – the wall looks quite bare. I think the host will miss it.
