Walking on water...

every wave is a path

Looking at this photo (taken at the other end of this week), it seems a peaceful pathway, sea tracks that could be part of a labyrinth. Inspired to go to the beach again, so took a trip in between raindrops - great grey humpback waves crashing in towards me - what a difference! Too dark to take good photos by the time I got there - scratched a labyrinth in the sand, simplest possible, like the one from Garvald (below), and then had to lean into the wind to walk it. Paused and soaked in the salt spray in the centre, and then just made it out before the sea reclaimed it.

Very wet and windy today - everything's howling and rushing - rain scoots down the street, pushed along by an impatient wind, rippling in curtains like the northern lights - but an October storm instead. Thinking of the folks gone to Lismore to build a labyrinth - hoping their crossing is less eventful than crossing the street here, that the seas and the weather remain calm for the work they are about to do.

Inspired by Gail's wonderful colour work to play around with some of the photos I took - only the simplest of tools, but this was a simple colour inversion - the sea around the labyrinth - as well as trackways, this makes me think of contemporary art styles, but also bird tracks I've seen in the snow around the labyrinth - the many different forms of labyrinth, and the many creatures that use it.

How many people does it take to ignore a labyrinth?

Answer: quite a lot. Even while I was making it, a woman sat about 20 feet away and quietly watched when she thought I wasn't looking.

Headed up to the little rise (sort of mini-cliffs) after making and walking the sand labyrinth; just sat and watched the busy-ness of life go by. Lots of young families vying with oystercatchers for what lay under the sand, people walking dogs or themselves. But amazing how many people walked right past the labyrinth but didn't seem to see it.

Watched one young woman walking with friends and dogs get interested - but the group pulled her on, and she moved away.

The tide would be at least another 6 hours before it washed this away, so I hope someone was brave enough to walk it!

Sea Labyrinth

Took a trip down to one of the beaches near here - Seamills. There used to be a grain mill on the shore, but the sea still grinds rocks and cliffs here. Bleak and stony when the tide is in, but an amazing expanse of sand when it goes out towards the headland. Beautiful sunny day - I decided I needed to teach myself how to draw a classic labyrinth, and what better medium than sand? I could always rub it out if I made a mistake...

Of course, the natives had to get involved. (can you bear a bad pun? it's a dog's life...)

Centred

Cloth Labyrinth

Did this for a seasonal festival at a friend's house - she has a biggish floor but this was made to use as much of floor as we could get away with!

Easiest thing seemed to be to stitch the largest white pieces we could find, and then make a looooong strip of bias-cut pieces (so they flexed a bit). Thankfully, this quilt also JUST fits in Sound & Geetam's room - I know because Geetam helped draw out the design (while Sound cooked us a delicious meal - there's support for you!) and we had to carefully pad around the space to do it.

Had we had a suitable groundsheet, this would have been nice to walk outside too, as a small simple labyrinth (Templar / Tarry Town design):

More from Polwarth

around the circle
lines

Polwarth Church of Scotland

Marked on the floor
covered by chairs
hidden