Veronica Pock | Handwoven textiles

Cold silvery light

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall, 
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground, 
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath, 
And after many a summer dies the swan. 

From Tithonus by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

This is a snippet from one of my favourite poems, and for me it describes this time of year precisely. The trees releasing their leaves, now spent and with their vital constituents reabsorbed into the heart of the tree, falling to the ground. Here they enter into the perpetual cycle of life, decaying and delivering their nutrients to feed the earth and, in turn, the woods in future years. I love the smell of the leaf mould, musty, ethereal, earthy. Such is the cycle of life, for plant, animal or man.

The light is cold and has a fragile, diaphanous quality, shimmering through the reeds that dance in the wind racing along the canal. The stalks chatter and whisper their secrets. I walk in the cold, embracing the chill and revelling in the sense of being alive.

A commissioned scarf

The colours of autumn, as the leaves change, are a great source of inspiration to me. Yellow is the overriding colour of November: Naples yellow, gold, chartreuse, lime, saffron, ochre, ferric, amber, lemon; acidic, rich, warm – a jostling throng of contradictions. So it was a real pleasure to be commissioned to weave a scarf inspired by the colours of a client’s autumnal garden. Working from photographs, so many contrasting and complementary colours came to light and I set about my work to transform them into an abstract reflection of the season. And here is the result:

With the remaining warp, I wove two less complex blanket scarves, and these are now available in my online store at LiminalWEAVE on Etsy.

Studio view

Continuing my investigations around the theme ‘Totem’, inspired by pebbles and found natural objects from the coastlines of Scotland and Iceland that I feel drawn to, I’ve been exploring colour and form using mixed media materials. I’ve started to move into three-dimensions, twisting, intertwining and manipulating the papers and card I normally use for collage. The resulting jewel-like mini-sculptures have lots of potential, and I’m excited to see where these tentative steps will take me.

Winter markets 

I don’t attend many in-person markets, mainly selling through my online Etsy store LiminalWEAVE, but November and December see me venturing out into the unpredictable weather to sell my scarves and cushions at markets. On Sunday 10th December I will be at the Hofkwartier Wintermarkt in The Hague, near the Grote Kerk. If you’re in the area, it would be lovely to see you! My final market of the year will be in Wassenaar at the Puur Natuur market on Saturday 16th. I’m hoping for good weather!

Mixed media work available at Kunstuitleen Voorburg: Licht en Warmte [Light and warmth]

The Kunstuitleen gallery in Voorburg, a suburb of The Hague, is currently exhibiting work from a community arts project, in which I took part. With the theme of ‘Light and warmth’, it was wonderful to see the range of artists who contributed to this project, and also their interpretations of the theme. I created the mixed media collage ‘A sort of Christmas tree’, which you can see above right. Ten of the artworks were also selected to be made into Christmas cards, and you can just see these in the shop window below (bottom right). These can also be purchased from the gallery online store here.

Also on display in the gallery window is my work on canvas ‘Flow I’, available to borrow or buy from the gallery. You can see more of my mixed media artworks by clicking here.

Colour inspiration

Of course, it had to be yellow! Gingko is an ancient tree: fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoch approximately 170 million years ago. The leaves are unique among seed plants, being fan-shaped with veins radiating out into the leaf blade, sometimes bifurcating (splitting). When they fall, they turn the city streets gold and contrast with the grey of the pavements, brightening the curbside.

Thank you…

…so much for your support and for joining me on my creative journey through the seasons. Your support and interest really does make a difference. If you’d like to see more of my work and inspirations, I post regularly on Instagram @veronicapock and my work is available online at LiminalWEAVE on Etsy and Saatchi Art. I also have a mailing list; if you would like to keep up to date with latest events and updates you can join by clicking here.

Looking forward to seeing you again in late December,

with warmest wishes, Veronica