Finding design inspiration on foot

The village in County Durham where I live is a former pit village with mostly slate-roofed red-brick houses. A ring of such villages circles the city of Durham. Ours is in a nice setting, with the moor rising up behind the village to the south, so you can glimpse green hills and trees from most places in the village.  As I have mentioned before (click here to see), there are lovely walks in different directions across county Durham just a few steps from our door.   These paths have been created from the network of railway lines that existed when the pits were open, and they are well used by walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

Last weekend, we walked a nine-mile section of the path, ending up in the village of Lanchester.  The autumn light made the colours particularly sharp and clear. These ferns, for example, almost look like flames in a fire.

These browns and golds would make a great print, I think.

Lots of yellow in these fallen leaves, which only stay this bright yellow for a short time.

I like the shape of these leaves too.

The pink, the white and the pale green of the different stages of the cow parsley stand out against the green background.

This could develop into quite a delicate print. I remember using cow parsley for a screen-printed image when I was at college.

The few leaves left on this branch were in such a pretty arrangement – I definitely want to draw them.

Even though this is October in the North-East of England, we didn’t get soaked. There was a short period of very light rain, which gave us this glorious sight towards the end of our walk.

So, a good walk and some sketchbook pages ready for transformation into textile designs.

This is my ‘Leaves of the Tree’ fabric design. You can find it here.

Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here