Nicky Bibby's (Bee Bee Crafts) felt workshop:

Oenone Randall's copper workshop:

Julia Hayward's glass workshop:

Teresa Mills' mosaic workshop:

Having a go at making paper by hand:

The vats full of paper fibres and water:

The paper being set and dried and rolled within the space of a few meters - just like you've seen on Blue Peter!

One of the larger machines making sugar paper 

Ready for our trip down the River Gade:

Entry from 1 November

Our society had a real treat this month - a demonstration evening with Denise Allen.  The title on our programme was intriguing: watercolour deconstruction and reconstruction and if I am honest, I’m not sure that any of us could have quite imagined what this was going to mean in practice!

Denise has been a professional artist since 1989 and belongs to a watercolour group with other professional artists. It was at one of these meetings a few years’ back when she watched one of the artists rip up finished pictures and then reuse sections in a new work. Denise found the architectural bits that the lady was going to throw away much more interesting and it planted a seed of thought that has blossomed into the technique she shared with us.

Denise rightly said that most of us probably have a drawer full of paintings with bits that we like on them, paintings that are too good to throw away, but not good enough to frame (lot’s of nodding in agreement in the room at this point!). The technique she went on to share allowed you to reuse the sections that you like and create something new.

Denise pulled three paintings out from her bag, watercolours of St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and a tree lined bank on the Thames all painted in situ – she then proceeded to rip them up in front of us. There were audible gasps from some members at this point!  This is where the ‘deconstruction’ comes in.  Denise then went on the affix the strips of pictures onto a sheet of Bockingford watercolour paper to produce a new composition – the ‘reconstruction’ part.

Our eyes and brains are clever things and it was clear that even though the elements from the three original pictures were collaged on the new page, you could start to make visual links between the strips of paper and begin to fill the gaps in.  It didn’t matter that the scale and perspective and light directions were mixed up which was surprising.

Once Denise had found a composition that worked, she started drawing back onto the page using a graphite stick to start connecting the elements back together. Then the fun began – filling the gaps using watercolour. Some of the white edges of the torn collaged sections were left white and others were painted over. Denise uses a Korean paint that I sadly can’t remember the name of.  Her palette is limited: ultramarine, cobalt blue hue, Pthalo blue, sepia, burnt umber, yellow ochre, lemon yellow and a fab new one to me, a very pretty 'opera rose' pink!

Denise encouraged us to be sparing with the paint application and to leave white paper sparkles or ‘windows of gloriousness’ in our works as it really enlivens the finished work. 

The finished piece is one of those works that you can not simply give a passing glance. It was a picture in which you saw new things each time you looked – a clear story of place permeates through the work.  Denise said that it is also like looking at an image through broken glass which is a good analogy.

I found Denise’s approach fascinating as it struck a chord with the way that I work in my collages. I ‘deconstruct’ a scene to its component parts and then ‘reconstruct’ it back together using different media to represent different elements and like to use bits from more than one image to create a new composition.  Isn’t it great that taking the same ‘deconstruct’ and ‘reconstruct’ ideas that artistically you can end up with completely different outcomes?

The following photos were taken with the kind permission of Denise (on the condition that she could have copies too which I have done!)

You can see more of Denise’ work and find out about the painting holidays that she runs in Minorca on her website:

www.deniseallen.co.uk

Entry from 31 October:

I just have to share a very special card with you. A handmade birthday card made with love by my cousin Lesley – or ‘Number One Cousin Lesley’ as I fondly refer to her.

Lesley became unwell in December 2008 which progressed to her contracting encephalitis and we thought she was going to die.  She was unwell and in hospital first at the John Radcliff in Oxford, then in High Wycombe and lastly in Amersham for a very long time.

Little by little she improved enough to come home. The encephalitis has left Lesley suffering with seizures that can largely not be predicted and has caused memory and concentration problems too. Lesley has a cocktail of drugs to take each day to try and reduce the likelihood and severity of the seizures and has to have a carer with her 24-7.

Before Lesley became unwell she lived her life at a million miles and hour: she ran around after two children, helped on the school PTA, ran her own business, loved blasting about on her new motorbike and making time for family and friends. She was also a keen crafter and loved cross stitch, paper crafting and card making. I was fairly new to paper crafting at this time and we had plans to visit shows and have crafting days where we could share what we knew and encourage each other.

Her illness has meant that she can not do the things she used to and there are some things, such as riding a motorbike that are very likely going to be out of her reach forever – unless medical science comes up with a miracle new medication (our family have our fingers well and truly crossed on this front).

Twice a week Lesley goes to Headway in Bourne End which is a charity that helps people who have suffered brain trauma whether through illness such as Lesley, or through accidents. It helps them with exercises and activities to help memory as well as providing companionship.  At recent classes they have had a volunteer with crafting materials and Lesley has been putting these to good use.

Apparently it was very difficult for Lesley to find a picture with just me in to put on the card – I am the one who usually takes all the photos and my aunt had a difficult time tracking one down!

I LOVE THIS CARD and fully understand and appreciate the effort that Lesley went to in creating it - once a crafter always a crafter I say and think that Lesley is doing great!

We never know what tomorrow may bring and should embrace the life and opportunities that we have today – and give a helping hand to those who have had normal life taken from them through no fault of their own.

To end on a more cheery note, the photo below is of my brother, Lesley and me being silly at my parents house – something we do often and are very good at!

Entry from 26 October:

If you have read earlier posts you will know that Steph and I have been busy making cards for a craft event in Gerrards Cross in mid November and this meant, that for the first time EVER I arrived for my favourite Friday of the quarter ' Crafting at Steph's' with just two bags of crafting stash and a clear idea of what had to be made – Xmas cards!

Annabelle opened the door and blew one of those party streamer hooter things in my face which really made me jump (and as I had been stuck in traffic because of an accident and needed the little girls room - it nearly caused an accident of a different kind too!). There were balloons all over the hall floor and I assumed that Annabelle had had some chums around, what with it being half term.

Little did I know that the party paraphernalia was in aid of an early birthday party for me!  The kitchen had been transformed into party central as you can see in the photos and Steph and Annabelle had spent the afternoon preparing all sorts of goodies.  I was so touched by the efforts made that I shed a little tear.  After dinner we had the most amazing chocolate cake that Tamsin had bought – I can highly recommend a Thornton’s celebration cake to anyone!

We cleared the food away to make way for the crafting stash. It was lovely that Karen could join us as she had other commitments last time.  Tamsin spent the evening making some more map covered brooches which she crackled glazed, although for some bizarre reason it took a long time to dry.  She also made up some really pretty bracelets. Karen, Steph and I concentrated on making made cards.

Tamsin has recently been elected as the Area Chairman for the Ladies Circle and was deliberating about what frock she should wear for a lunch in Reading the next day – she has a large Chain to pin onto her frock now. She did make us laugh explaining the ‘claustrophobic effect’ that her frock from Monsoon has on her!

The topic of pricing handmade cards and jewellery came up in conversation – a bit of a perennial question and we decided that in the year ahead we should do some proper ‘market research’ at events to see what the standard charge is (if any).  You don’t want to over price your work and sell nothing but then again you don’t want to under value it either and set a precedent for future sales.

Sadly the evening had to come to an end and why is it that although everything fitted in my two bags when I left home that morning, there was in no way they were going to contain all my stash going home! I managed to share out the remainder of the cake among everyone to save me eating it all and left with cards and gifts that were strictly NOT to be opened before Wednesday!

Thanks to my crafting chums for making the evening so special – I really appreciated it and count myself lucky to have such lovely friends.

Entry from 7 October:

I had been poorly in the week leading up to October’s Windsor Emporium so Ben took pity on me and came to pick me up early on Sunday morning to save me the job of packing up my Smart Car - thank you lovely Ben.  There was a lot going on in Windsor this Sunday what with the Fringe Festival, Eton Art Trail and the marathon in the afternoon so we were hopeful for a busy Emporium!

I had the same spot as last month in the main room of the Guildhall next to John and his antiques.  It was much easier to set up the table this time, having done it once before and I am very grateful to John for lending me a couple of antique lights to help illuminate my artwork.

My arty chums Julie Rumsey (printmaker) and Lis England (fine art) were in their usual spaces in the side room with the Vintage Café.  Jules had been really busy and had a range of new collographs on display. One work entitled ‘Did you Tweet me?’ featured a dog with a bird on its back which was great (I think she sold it too).  Lis had a range of book covers with detailed paintings on including ‘To the Lighthouse’ that also sold!

It was good to see some faces from last month’s Emporium and to meet some new artist makers.  On the table to my right was Rosamund Fowler who had a delightful range of cards and limited edition relief prints from wood engravings, mostly of animals and birds – the detail on them was just incredible. Rosamund makes her prints using an antique Farley press.  She has been a successful illustrator and painter for over twenty years and has recently moved into wood engraving – a truly multi talented lady.

I was particularly taken by Fox Terrier, which I learnt had been exhibited at the RA Summer Exhibition in 2010 - so I must have seen it on my annaul RA jolly with my brother. I have a thing about wire haired Fox Terriers (and Border Terriers and Pugs even though I am a cat person) and have to stop and say hello when I see one (Ben despairs with me).  Rosamund reminded me they are after all the original ‘push along dog’ so maybe there’s a touch of childhood nostalgia with my liking of them.

I sat and looked at Mr Fox Terrier on and off through the day and he looked back at me and you guessed it, he left Windsor in my bag!  Just need to get Cath at Emerald to make me a frame so I can proudly display him on my wall.

You can see Rosamund’s work at:  www.rosamundfowler.co.uk

Look for Mr Fox Terrier here - there are a few editions left if he tugs at your heart too:
www.rosamundfowler.co.uk/gallery_prints.html

Opposite me were Sue and her hubby of Chandlers Candles who last month had the table where Rosamund was this month (does that make sense?). This meant I could get a better view of the handmade natural soy candles that they make.  Their candles are so elegantly packaged and the classic scents are beautful - making it easy to see why they were so busy!

www.chandlerscandles.me.uk

Another table that caught my eye just up from Rosamund was Roelofs and Rubens who had a beautiful range of handmade ceramics ranging from practical plates and mugs to some just lovely hand painted hanging ornaments in many shapes and colours. The decoration on most of the works was a modern take on the traditional ‘blue and white’ colour way – but the more colourful pieces (termed ‘banyak warna’ on their website) were just glorious.

Some of the shapes were new to me as ornaments - camels, crustaceans and hands, but these complimented the more traditional forms of hearts, birds and butterflies - and many more.  I found it impossible to pick a favourite design and now have the website saved as a ‘favourite’ for future use. 

Take a peek I’m sure you will love it too: www.roelofsrubens.co.uk

On the Windsor Emporium’s facebook page a while back there was a post about a particularly colourful vintage chair that had been restored and reupholstered in a patchwork of Designers Guild devoir velvet. Dawn from Trove Designs was present with not only THAT chair – but also the most fabulous chaise longue that had been reupholstered in the same way.  I tried to convince Ben when he popped in that the chair would be just the ticket for his office in the future and that every girl needs a chaise to lounge on with her cats but I’m not sure he really felt the same!  

You can find out more about this lovely upcycling at: www.trovedesigns.co.uk

Over the way from me, opposite John’s stall was Laurel Howell and who must have been her twin sister.  Laurel is a graphic designer artist maker and had a range of unique, quirky and original contemporary gifts on display.  I just loved the shrink plastic rings and necklaces she had produced with moustaches and typewriters on and can see some of these finding their way into Ben’s nieces’ Christmas gift bags: 

www.laurelhowells.co.uk

This is just a few of the stalls that were there on this Sunday. Jackie Couzen’s who runs the Windsor Emporium has a great mix of makers each month – and as it changes each time it is worth popping in regularly as you never know what treasure you may find.

Remember - the first Sunday in the month from March to December is Windsor Emporium day!

http://www.windsoremporium.co.uk/

Entry from 30 September:

I had a contact through my website in September from Harlequin Corporate Finance looking to commission a piece of work to celebrate an upcoming deal.  I couldn’t help but be a little bit nosy and ask how they had come across my work and Ian from Harlequin replied to say that he had bought one of my limited edition prints of Henley Royal Regatta from the exhibition in Marlow back in the summer and thought that my style of work may suit what he was looking for.

The brief was very specific and had to include: Tower Bridge with the Olympic rings (acknowledging that copyright for anything Olympic remains forever with the IOC), the London Eye, the Shard, the Gherkin, Monument, the number 16 and 12 and the logos of Harlequin and Six Degrees. Two pictures were required – one for Harlequin and one as a gift for Six Degrees.

Including all of these images as a ‘skyline’ and in the reconstructed but realistic way that I like to work was a fabulous challenge. In the end I decided that as long as the buildings were on the correct side of the river it didn’t really matter that you physically wouldn’t see them all from the bank of the Thames where I had chosen my view of Tower Bridge!

There were lots of lovely shapes to work with and simplify down. Being someone who collects all sorts of ephemera I looked out the copy of the FT that I keep for peachy coloured text and in a lovely example of serendipity found it was from eight years ago and had items about the Olympics in Athens! I used this for the background skyline and The Gherkin.  The Shard was constructed using a section from The Daily Telegraph bought on that fantastic Friday (3 August 2012) when Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah made us proud – the item was of course talking of Sir Chris Hoy’s achievements the evening before.

To include the company logos and deal numbers I decided to use a couple of shots of boats taken on my recent holiday to St Ives.  I like the way the numbers on the sails repeat as a mirror image – although it took ages to find a font that looked like I wanted it to. The girls watching from the bank are from Henley Regatta (Harlequin CF is based in Henley) – can you spot that the girl in the black jacket doesn't have any shoes on?

I really enjoyed producing these – with the bonus being that Ian was delighted with them too!

http://www.harlequincf.co.uk/news18.asp

22 September 2012

Yes, there it is in the title, the C word . . . but given that the shops have festive wares already I don't think I'm the first to mention it!

I had a lovely day yesterday at Steph’s making cards in readiness for both the Windsor Emporium in October and a Craft Fair that Emerald Gallery are taking part in November and that Cath kindly asked me to supply some cards for. I know I won’t be able to produce enough cards on my own for the November Fair so asked my chum Steph, who you will know from previous blog entries is a 'card making extraordinaire' to take part too.

I filled the back of my Smart car up (again) with a selection of crafting stash as you never know what you may need!  Steph had raided her Craft Room (deeply envious) and bought out everything Christmas related into the kitchen already. Between us we had soooo much stuff it was a bit overwhelming and difficult to decide where to start.

Steph decided that we needed some Xmas music playing in the background to get us ‘in the mood’, much to her daughter Annabelle's amusement, but we had to turn this off in the end as it got quite depressing.  Steph is the quickest card maker I know and while I was faffing about trying to decide what to do she had made four cards in the time it took me to make just one!

That said, Steph spent a while trying out new techniques and ideas afterwards (involving Flitter Glu and Charles Dickens) and by the end of the day I managed to overtake her on the production front (10 v 4) – something that will never be achieved again believe me! In fact Steph worked through her ideas on Sunday and produced another seven cards at last count so my lead is overtaken already.

We had a break for lunch and a trip to Hobby Craft in Aylesbury to get some more ideas and inspiration and I was really proud that we both managed to resist buying more Xmas themed stash and stick to using what we already had.

The cards that I produced were a bit fiddly to construct with the threads and buttons but I was pleased with the finished result. When you need to produce a lot of cards I find it easiest to pick a few designs and then do variations on a theme so that you can get a little production line going.  Ten is a good start but I'll need to get a wiggle on and produce a few more!

The products I used for the cards on the slideshow below are:

1. Miniature Christmas themed post cards (Blade Rubber Stamps, London: http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk/ )
2. ‘I believe’ 12 inch glitter card stack by Mindy Terasawa (Hobby Craft)
3. Vintage sheet music (Charity Shop)
4. Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads (peeled paint; worn lipstick and festive berries)
5. Stickles Glitter glues (fruit punch; lime green and icicle)
6. Sakura Gelly Roll and Metallic pens (clear star; gold and silver)
7. Bakers twine (The Ribbon Girl: http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/catalog/ and Blade Rubber Stamps)
8. Thread off cuts (Oliver Twists Threads)
9. Vintage buttons from my Grandma’s Button Tin
10. 6 x 6 inch card blanks

It was lovely to spend a day crafting with Steph as weekends get booked up so quickly. To able to spend a day in good company, chatting, laughing, putting the world to right, drinking tea, eating chocolate and crafting is a rare treat.

13 September 2012

After the great time I had at the mixed media workshop at the St Ives School of Painting I could hardly wait for the relief printing workshop the next day with Lee Stevenson, a member of the St Ives Society of Artists.  This was held at the Crypt Gallery which as the name suggests is in the basement of the Mariner’s Church. The church has been a gallery for the St Ives Society of Artists since the 1940’s and is located off of Norway Square.

Lee was busy setting up when I arrived and I found a table space with a set of equipment for lino cutting that I had last seen and used when I was at Terriers Middle School back in the 1970's and I got a bit nostalgic. There were about 12 of us in the class and it was a lovely surprise to see a face among them that I knew, Glenys Horn who used to work at the District Council in the team behind me – what a small world! Glenys told me that she and her hubby come to St Ives every year for the Festival fortnight as there is just so much going on.

Lee gave us a demonstration of the types of marks / cuts that can be achieved by the different shaped blades and showed us some finished lino cuts to give us an idea of what can be achieved, when you know what you are doing! Lee explained that he liked to paint his lino with a thin coat of greenhouse whiting to start with so that you can easily see the drawn image that you want to work from. He also reminded us that if we were planning on reproducing a recognisable landmark in our work that we needed to draw this in reverse on the lino as a mirror image of the plate would be printed. Lee demonstrated how we could use a black type of ‘carbon paper’ to transfer our images and we were off back to our tables to have a go.

A lot of the other workshop attendees had come rather better prepared than me and had sketch books with ideas already mapped out. I had decided that I wanted to include my seagull logo as part of my cut, but when faced with the A5 piece of lino I knew that it wouldn’t be enough. After looking through photos on my camera I decided to include the lighthouse at the end of Smeaton’s Pier as well – meaning that I had to think about drawing this backwards.

There wasn’t much time for drawing and I soon found I had done my seagull too big and could only just squeeze it on to the lino. Lee had provided a little heater to warm up the lino as this made cutting much easier. It was quite therapeutic to cut into the lino and see your image appear – but you had to think carefully about which areas you wanted printed (left in relief) and which areas you wanted white (cut out) to make sure that you cut the rights bits out of your image. I must have been holding the cutting stylus not quite right as found that my middle and ring finger rubbed against the cut groves in the lino and I scraped the skin off which was quite sore by the end of the class (why do you never have a plaster in your bag when you need one). If you look closely at the pictures you can see my blood on the finished plate . . . 

Lee then showed us how to ink up our lino plate using a water-based ink and how to take a print. He showed us a ‘low tech’ way to print that did not require a press. Lee used a wooden spoon wrapped in a soft cloth to rub over the paper to transfer the ink – something that could easily be achievable at home.

I was just delighted with the finished result – and proud that I managed to not cut off the seagull’s feet and beak! I know the composition and scale aren’t quite right but in the end felt this added a bit of charm to the piece and will definitely be giving this a go again. 

The lady on my table advised me that the Oxfam shop in St Ives sells art materials including equipment for lino cutting which was convenient as I had to walk past this shop on my way back to the apartment. I also remembered that my brother Jamie had invested in a set of lino implements that he was planning to use when he had some time off work last year to recover from an operation. Jamie hadn’t used them in the end and I am delighted to say that he has ‘donated’ them to me and they are waiting in my studio in readiness . . . !

You can find out more about the St Ives Society of Artists and the courses that they run clicking on the link below:

http://www.stisa.co.uk/

You can also see a selection of Lee Stevenson lovely lino cuts and etchings on the link below:

http://www.stisa.co.uk/artist-gallery/lee-stevenson/