INspiration & Colour in Nature

Textile artist Diane Rogers and water colour artist Danni Durai, met through their shared fascination with lichens and have come together to showcase this and their broader love of nature in this exhibition INSPIRATION AND COLOUR IN NATURE.
Diane Rogers
Nature and the environment provide the inspiration for my textile art.
The gnarled, grainy texture of tree bark, lichens and moss, carpets of rich colourful leaves, pebbles and structures on beaches and the ever changing rock pools on the south coast are recurring themes.
I visited Eridge Rocks near Tunbridge Wells , where examples of rare lichens can be seen on the weathered, sandstone rock formations. I used my photographic images of these lichens to produce a group of embroideries which are displayed here, together with others created using the photographic images I have taken over the years, inspired by the beauty, colours, patterns and textures to be found in nature.
Danni Durai
In 2022, I made a series of paintings that explored the colours and composition of the lichen that kept catching my eye on dog walks. I photographed it, picked up samples from the ground, researched it and began to realise how much there was to it. The shades of grey-green and light green I saw in patches on branches were a mixture of varieties. I found that it was Maritime Sunburst lichen, varying in hue from grey to green to yellow and the bright gold whose colours I wanted to capture. I then followed two threads; first delicate like foliose lichen on trees and then wet on wet, like the crustose lichens on paving.

For more information visit https://www.rottingdeanheritage.org.uk/whats-on-now/