Workshop with Bobby Britnell

Last week I had the privilege of doing a drawing workshop with Bobby (http://www.bobbybritnell.co.uk/) at Art van Go! in Knebworth. (http://www.artvango.co.uk/).
We worked in charcoal, pastels and graphite. The class had 16 people, working at first as individuals, then we worked on a combined piece and then divided that piece up between each group of four so that we all had a section of the one we had worked on.

We began by using charcoal to draw layered shapes. learning how to make one appear on top of another and so on. This was harder than it looked!

The first is mine... can you see the deliberate mistake?

The next is Gina's ... it wasn't dirty, that brownish tinge is a trick of the light in the room.

Next is Lucille's

I don't know the names of the students who did the last two, sorry!

It is very clear that some got the hang of this much better than I did! grin

Next we were given four A2 sheets of cartridge taped together. We were each told to 'Take a line for a walk' and then starting at one edge of the section nearest to the artist and drawing a continuous outline of a section of the articles in the room. This was repeated twice on each section using a different view each time. Thus we ended up with a complicated array of outlines which could then be coloured. We each chose a colour and using only that plus black and white, filled random shapes. It soon became apparent that they couldn't be totally random as the whole piece needed to be  considered.

The following is the finished piece of Gina, Lucille Angela and Myself.

After taking a photo, this was then divided up into four by removing the tape and each of us then had a section to take further. I ended up with the top left hand quadrant of the above drawing.

We then cut out sections from down the side and across the bottom using a rectangular template.

For fun, we then played dominoes with those and began to see the potential of mixing and matching the sections.

Then we selected three sections that in my case looked vaguely like landscapes and enlarged them onto a new piece of paper, thus producing a small triptych. Now we could begin to see the potential for stitch on a large or small, even very small scale. The possibilities are endless.

The next picture is what was left of my starting section and this could be treated in a similar way to produce more designs.

The final two pictures are those that were made by the other two groups of four. I'm afraid I got so involved in what I was doing that I didn't get round to take pictures of their final pieces.

This was a really wonderful workshop and Bobby is a very generous tutor coming round to everyone time and time again to help and advise and discuss where necessary.

I can't wait for the next workshop with her... I am doing a Summer school with her in June.

Workshop with Angie Hughes

The Lutterworth Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild had a most enjoyable workshop today tutored by Angie Hughes. (http://www.angiehughes.com/)
There were so many of us who wanted to do this workshop that Angie kindly agreed to stay over and run it again the next day!
I'm afraid I omitted to note the names of all the owners of these pieces, so I hope they will forgive me.

The first is my effort. The process involved spraying two colours of fabric paint onto white cotton velvet, then drying it by ironing. This allowed the paint to heat set at the same time. They were then sprayed with diluted Quink black ink and again dried. After this we stenciled with bleach to remove some of the black and then stamped with and embellished them. In a one day workshop there wasn't time to stitch on them but Angie showed us the techniques for this and we will work on them some more at home.

This is mine again with some embellishments being added, gold foil and sweetie papers plus some sequins.

I believe the next one is by Alex

These were Julie's

The next two were by Sarah Adcock I think. The start and then with some added embellishments.

I really can't remember who owns this one. Sorry!

I was pleased at how different everyone's work was in spite of the fact that we all used the same three dyes and shared Angie's stencils as well.

This was a most enjoyable day and I would recommend any who have not had a workshop with Angie to do so as soon as possible. She is an excellent tutor and it was fun what's more!

A Walk Around My Garden

It is a beautiful day today so I went and had a stroll about the garden.

Here are some sweet violets which seem to have self set everywhere this year. I love them though.

These are some newly planted Snakes Head Fritillaries. I am hoping that these will spread in time. All six that I planted have come up so I am hopeful.

The Rhododendron had it's first flowers just open today.

Primroses and violets... yummy! When my eldest sister had her 21st birthday during the second world war, the tables were all decorated with these. My Aunt had brought them up from the country with her.

This is my new mock orange. Philadelphus coronarius aurus. It will flower later.

More self setters... aren't they glorious with the late afternoon sun shining through them?

Another new shrub planted last Autumn. A White Magnolia Stellata.

These seem to do well here too. Anemone blanda, they were here when I came.