Weaving Loch Lomond - with threads of land, sea and sky

Weaving Loch Lomond brings the colours, stories and spirit of the land into my work, creating circular weavings which honour the connections between people, soul and the natural world.

I live a few miles from Loch Lomond, on the banks of the River Leven which transports the loch waters down a fast meandering path to meet the great River Clyde at Dumbarton Rock, the plug of an ancient volcano. This landscape is alive with stories of its natural history, human history, memory and spirit.

These weaving take two forms - one as an art peice celebrating the land and secondly as an honouring of our soul friends, our anam caras, often personified by out beloved animals.

Soul Friends

Just as the land can be our soul friend, all the times we take a pilgrimage to a place, to share our joys and sorrows , the land offers us solace, connection and through that a sense of belonging. Our soul friend might take the form of a beloved pet, who might well be at our side as we journey out on the land with us.

Weaving Loch Lomond creates ANam Cara peices, honoring the lives of our beloved pets, in the form of images of the land, standing stones set against moonlit skies, or a stick places against colours of your land and places you’ve walked, with the option of blending in a little pet hair.

I live near Loch Lomond, where the River Leven carries the loch’s waters down a winding path to the River Clyde at Dumbarton Rock, the heart of an ancient volcano. This landscape holds its own spirit, a living memory of glens, lochs, and hills shaped over millennia, whispering stories of the Ice Age and the wild creatures who call it home.

Standing stone weaving - Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond (mountain) in the background

Dùthchas

Each weaving holds a place in the cycle of the seasons, perhaps the blue green hues of the water, the black and grey diffuse light on a misty winter morning, which speak to the evocative spirit of the place. Some weavings might wander a little further for their inspiration, to a standing stone circle or ancient shrine (the Shrine of the Cailleach is only 30 miles away as the crow flies).

The act of weaving connects to an ancient linage of those who wove - its a wonderfully meditative process which I began in lockdown of 2020. It’s an art and craft which embodies growth, change, and renewal. Through my weaving, I share not only what I see but what I feel about this landscape.

The Gaelic word Dùthchas is a weaving of connection of people and place, it also speaks to the relationship between people and animals, the forestss, lochs and sea, hills and mountains. It’s also about a responsibility ot he land, such as protesting the monstrosity of Flamingo Land which was an amusement park proposed for the Banks of Loch Lomond.

Crofter and world-renowned knitwear designer Alice Starmore from Lewis described dùthchas:

“a feeling of belonging, of where everything is linked, completely linked. Where you belong to the land, and the land belongs to you – there is no distinction. It’s like a hand in a glove. Everything fits in, and your culture is part of that as well, and everything you know that’s around you; every part of life that’s around you is all interlinked and interdependent, and it’s all about ancestry, knowing where you’ve come from and that you are a continuation of all that.” - —

Click here to read more on the concept of Dùthchas at the The Shieling Project

Standing stone weaving - Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond (mountain) in the background

Weavings are also blessings, in particular for honouring our soul friends, our anam cara’s - who are often our pets. We all have the power to offer a blessing, and the great Irish teacher John O’Donohue remind us, that blessings aren’t about who has the power to bless, as we all are cpaable of creating blessing. The question is what do you bless by, or where you are blessing from.

His answer lies in when you bless another, you first gather yourself, you reach below your surface mind and personality, down to the deeper source within you - namely, the soul. Blessings i from soul topsoil. And the key to who you are is your soul.

I know the anguish and deep sorrow of grief of losing our soul friends so I wanted to create art peices which speak to that relationship.

Anam Cara Blessings

My Anam Cara Blessings pieces are a blessings which is rooted in place. They contain the energies of the season, the moon phase, the weather, their inspiration comes from the land around me, perhaps it began with the colors in a dry stone dyke (tradition stone built wall) or the flash of a passing hawk.

I think of these blessings as traveling but the essence of the blessing rooted in the earth, all strands woven into an art piece.

Your blessings is made by wind and moon, starlight and raincloud, a silent and wordless prayer - all these threads woven into the art piece.

Story

Honoring their story is honoring their life and your relationship. Dogs, for example, are our companions when we head out a walk, exploring the local landscape. While we both engage with that landscape in different ways both our relationship and our connection to place deepens. Regular walks help us get to know the local landscape, and the familiarity from regularly walking the trails through the seasons we get to see the land in it’s changing colours and wildlife.

Small branches from the path, dried leaves and pet hair - all parts of the story of your relationship to each other and the land can be woven into a weaving. Wool colours representing the time of day and the time of year. Hill and mountain, forest and shore can all bring their special elements into the weave.

Art

The art piece is a weaving, the core of the piece Scottish (or British) grown wool, naturally dyed which helps support those tending to small flocks whose welfare is considered. A very small percentage is fancier yarns that bring a highlight and sparkle. Natural objects are woven into the framework which represents your relationship - from sticks and stones, acorn, shell or seaweed - all are added into the artwork with some pet hair.

Ritual

Weaving is an ancient art, throughout history has been women’s work and for me feels like a homecoming of sorts. My mothers family who comes from Northern Ireland (my fathers family from the south) travelled from Ireland to the Scottish Borders to work in the woolen mills. I occasionally come across old woven mohair scarfs with a colorful labels bearing the name of the woolen mill.

Making your Anam Cara weaving is a ritual in itself, preparing the warp (the framework) to the yarn that is the weft. The entire process from beginning to end is consciously created. so that the finished pieces combines the story of your pet into an art work created through ritual.

Met was found wandering around out in the country and ended up at a friends house. My friend called me and asked if I would take him since they knew that I had been doing animal rescue for quite a while. I agreed and thought I would foster him for a while then get him adopted. He was about 3 years old then, he sat when you walked up to him, walked well on a leash, was house trained and had been taught not to walk on the hard floors. I knew someone had loved him and trained him so we made a huge effort to find his family which we never did. I ended up falling in love with him and decided that he needed to join my family. He was my constant companion and was a good boy his whole life. After his passing I missed him terribly.

"When my pet weaving arrived in the mail, I was moved to tears.  Jude's carefully crafted piece combined three things I love most - my dog Rico, the connection I feel with my ancestral lands of Scotland, and the standing stones that hold so much magic and memory.  The threads holding the weaving together remind me of a spider web.  Jude's weaving now hangs in an east-facing window and the sunrise shines through it every morning."

Ordering your Anam Cara weaving - Lets start our conversation

I invite you to share a little about your vision or inspiration, tell me who your weaving aims to honour.

. Tell me about what resonates with you—colors, themes, or feelings you'd love to see expressed in the piece. From there, we’ll work together to create something truly unique and meaningful to you.

To begin, just send a message or fill out the short form below with your thoughts, and I’ll be in touch soon!