Maggie Ayres, Textile Artist from Scotland

Just when I really convinced myself that I needed to focus myself on photography and 3D modelling and let my interest in texiles just rest for a while, I stumbled across the videoos on YouTube from Scottish textile artist Maggie Ayres.
And thus spend most of my afternoon browsing her gallery and viewing her YouTube videoos.

She creates intricate, but in my opinion, delicate texile pieces that speak volumes. She has no problems with showing her emotions in the work - which makes it a very personal encounter as a viewer.
What I also like is that despite the complexities of textures and the variety of tones and colours there is a sense of openness and lightness in some of her pieces.
But you really have to see for yourself!

Anyone interested should check out her website:
www.maggieayres.co.uk
there is also an option to subscribe for her newsletter on this site.

On YouTube you will find several videoos by Maggie about her work. You will find an overview on this page:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=maggieayres&view=videos

Here is a small overview of one of her shows:

A Little Bit More of Scotland

This is one of the landscape shots that I took in the Scottish Highlands. The mountain is called Bauchaille Etive Mor, or also known as the Black Sheperd. Depending on the weather, this waterfall is a small stream, or is a strong force of water.
On this particular day, the snow on the Bauchaille looked like powder sugar, the mountains far back in the background were completely covered in snow. The sky was often just gray, but because the weather changes so quickly up here, one can always wait (in the car) to see if the weather turns around. And it did! The rain was mostly gone and suddenly we had even an empty space in the sky where the blue came poking through. A magical moment!

I had found a spot, a bit lower, and balanced on a small rock which stuck out from the side. It was hardly enough space for my feet ánd tripod. But it gave me a good view on the waterfall itself and hopefully the viewers a sense of the power of the waterfall, the wideness of the scenery and the roughness of that piece of country.
It was only later when I climbed back that I realise that the rock I stood on was not very stable. Don't think that I will ever try to repeat that!


Getting lost in Scotland happens to us more often than any other country I have been too! But it has the advantage of taking you to places that you would otherwise not have found! This shot of horses as taken on one of our 'little detours' thanks to the Scottish way of using roadsigns...
We drove a while into a very deserted place and spotted these horses. At that moment is was so cold that I could not even keep the camera steady - I was trembling of the cold.
With an iso of 800, and placing the camera on a wooden post, I was able to get some shots - but because of the amount of noise, I processed the image into Black & White and added a soft tone too.
I just loved the way they were interacting with each other - so playful, even jumping around so now and then. Too bad that they became a bit shy in front of the camera!