Making Bluebell Ring

Blue Ring (2012)

See Blue Ring in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens. The work is made up of bluebell seeds on a base and a drawing on canvas.

Blue Ring at Cae'n-y-Coed, Wales

In the winter of 1983, Nash moved thousands of bluebell bulbs into a 30 metre ring on an open slope at Cae'n-y-Coed. Every spring, just for two or three weeks, a circular concentration of blue was visible amidst a sparser sea of blue.

Bluebell seed pods ready for harvesting

Nash has experimented with ways of collecting seeds. He began by harvesting bluebells before they'd dried out and hanging them up in his studio. Lots of seeds would fall out, but he describes this as 'a sticky and smelly business' because the vegetation was still moist and began to decompose, also dripping a sticky varnish onto his floor.

Bluebells seeds drying out

Blue Ring (2012) at Nash's workshop

As a way of presenting this blueness, Nash has here gathered bluebell seeds, which are a deep indigo blue, to create a loosely scattered circle, accompanied by a loose blue pastel circle on canvas on the wall.