September Showers

Despite the pouring rain three out of four people showed up for our session in Ardwick Green,

Because the forecast was completely wrong two weeks ago, we hoped for the best, but this time it really did just bucket down. Everyone was well prepared with coats and umbrellas. It was lovely to gather again, each session is a different group of people so we start by catching up and sharing news. Then we walked the circuit of this small urban 'green' looking at the leaves of the trees, the different shapes, the patterns of the veins, the colours of the fallen leaves, the shelter they give from the rain and how we can learn their names.

Due to the rain we decided not to try and draw or sketch, but we did talk about each drawing a leaf when we got home, so maybe we will be able to share some leaf drawings soon. We decided to decorate the little circle in the path that cuts through the park that people use as a short cut on their way home from the bus stop. We thought that perhaps in the pouring rain it might be nice to see that the pathway has been embellished. We talked about mandalas and the construction of impermanent artworks with reference to the work we had done before with artist Emily Hayes.

One of the members of the group has colour blindness so we also discussed how we all see things slightly differently and how perceptions are often personal and not the 'complete picture'. Yellow is a bright, light colour that is uplifting and helpful against depression, on such a grey dark wet day, we hope that yellow leaves will lift peoples spirits a little.

Annette Ebanks had got to the session early and before the rain had really set in she had done some drawing, she shared her drawings with us at the end of the session: