Watermark book

The book - Watermark - for the Wool & Water Festival is finished at last. The exhibition, at Newark Park a National Trust property by Ozleworth, opens in early September & runs for two months.

The canal cuts across a changing landscape as it leaves Stroud heading for the Severn.

Bridges act not only as crossings but also as way points marking distance travelled. Their names roll off the tongue like those in the shipping forecast ...skew, upper mills, Stonehouse, nutshell, ocean ...

The canal's sinuous line is reflected in the long narrow format of the book with the pages an unfolding zig-zag and each section between bridges a different page linked end to end.

Plant material along the towpath was printed to chart the mix from urban, to garden escapes to wild natives. The bridges names are debossed. Blue ink & linen reference the water and the leather binding is inspired by the leather bound books in the canal archive.