seeing pattern

summer officially over now the last of the swallows have flown south. a slow walk with a recovering elderly dog  presents dawdling opportunities with the camera. everywhere I look there seems to be pattern and structure capable of translation.

why have I not spotted these lichens before; growing on a cement wall, which to a superficial eye is an ugly anachronism amongst old brick and flint buildings.

using embroidered stitches on a soft grey cashmere knit this will make a very elegant design …

silvery grey lichens on soft red brick walls turn my mind more to clay and glaze than wool

all this variegated blotching over rusty reds and algae greens ….

old hogweed seed heads stand out in the sunshine like sculptural jewels

and even such a mundane and ugly thing as a recently flailed hedge still has potential for a strongly drawn embroidery.

the hedgerows are still full of charm even though it’s that stub end of summer before autumn colours get going – maiden hair ferns bright green in the cooler wetter weather –

a stand of knapweed with seedheads – all the branching stems and repeated shapes make good pattern material.

pretty field scabious

I love plantains – strongly ribbed leaves and upright flowers –

all these red stems on the elderberries – more fractals of repeating smaller and smaller patterns –

dog rose hips blaze out of the hedge, with thorned looping stems, quite heraldic.

these lime tree seeds are quite irresistible, hanging like Christmas tree decorations

and ivy stems – fat wavy branching ropes with pretty leaf shapes … perhaps a cable design?