Bladderwrack in Blue I is part of my In Blue series, a body of work created in tribute to Anna Atkins and her early cyanotypes. Instead of printing the plants in a blue silhouette, I invert the palette so the algae themselves carry the blue, held on a clean white ground. This piece is based on bladderwrack gathered along the Shannon Estuary, a plant I know from childhood walks and cold shoreline mornings.

I traced the branching fronds and their small rounded air bladders, then rebuilt the form in fine layered stitching. The threads shift through gentle blue tones that echo the clarity and softness of shallow water. The imperfections in the structure keeps the piece light and airy, like something that might lift if a tide rolled underneath it. The little bladders sit like buoyant beads, giving the plant its natural lift and giving the stitched version a quiet sense of upward movement.

Even though bladderwrack is usually sturdy and tough underfoot, the stitched form has a delicacy that brings out a different side of it, a softer rhythm and innate beauty you notice only when you stop and study its shape.

The work is framed in a white wood box frame with Artglass, which protects the fine detail and allows every branch and air bladder to sit clearly in view.