Work by Anita Hutchison :: Poem by Gerda Stevenson
Rose Stalks in Snow
After a painting by Christian Small, watercolourist, mainly self-taught; born Dundee, 1925, died West Linton, Scottish Borders, 2016; graduated with honours in chemistry at the University of St. Andrews; sold very few of her many paintings, preferring to give them away; stored sheaves of them in her children’s old cot.
From Quines by Gerda Stevenson
Artist’s statement
Gerda’s poem ‘Rose Stalks in Snow’ is based on a painting by Christian Small. The original painting shows a pruned rose bush in a snowy garden. My textile concentrates on the dead flower heads that may have been pruned from the bush. Using a monochrome palette to match the painting and as mentioned in the poem, I created the textile from layered fine mono-printed fabrics and completed with a machine-stitched drawing of rose heads, all in grey and black with an off-white background.