Workshops 2020

Some of my friends feel I should join Workshops Anonymous!  If there isn't such an organisation perhaps I should start one.

I spent many months this year saying I wasn't going to book any workshops in 2020.  But then signed up for 3 in January & February.  Then I said I wouldn't book any past March.  Yeah right!

So what have I signed up for?

January: Unlocking the Mystery of Creative Play with Lesley Morgan.
‘How do I make better work?’ We will look at simple language and principles of design found in the physical world. Working from a personal starting point, discover tools to create contrast and harmony using colour, value, size, shape, and texture. Bring your curiosity to discover what you like and how to achieve the elements you need to work with your theme and create effective compositions.

February: Abstract Calligraphy with Simon Sonsino
In this workshop we will explore abstract calligraphy with expressive form. We will work through exercises creating abstract letter form with different mark making tools.

February: Poetry of Stitch with Christine Chester
There will be a concentration on using the sewing machine, but also looking at hand stitch as the heavier and more ‘spotty’ marks that is tricky to do on the machine (though not impossible). We will explore your machine’s potential through use of tension, straight and swing stitches, and the occasional use of an accessory or two.  There will be an emphasis on trying lots of small sample pieces rather than working towards a larger piece, but these can be combined to form a book towards the end of the course.

April: Colour Studies with Lesley Morgan
We will learn how to use procion Mx dyes to develop an extensive palette. Build harmonious colour and value schemes to create contrasts that will enrich, energies and pop!  Use mark-making to create a visual reference of colour relationships and establish a method to explore any colour and value scheme of your choice.

May: Improvisational Curved Piecing with Leslie Morgan
Improvisation is the act of coming up with something on the spot. Improvisational Piecing is drawing with a rotary cutter. The act of improvising is to act or to start a piece without planning ahead, spontaneously making decisions as you go. Improvisational piecing promotes muscle memory, intuition, innovation, creative mistakes, repeatable mistakes, freedom ...

July: Land - Marks Summer School with Cas Holmes
A mixed media workshop exploring the qualities of cloth and paper for creating a mark and as a surface for print. Spend the first two days printing onto layered cloth using a variety of techniques, and the last day using some of the pieces to create a stitch - collage.

November: Layers in Land & Sea with Amanda Hislop
A 2-day workshop to explore land or seascape imagery through a process of layering; working on a fine background to build layers of recycled and specialist papers, natural fragments and threads. Experiment with ways of changing the surface of papers which will then be incorporated into landscape compositions developed from your own personal material. Acrylic paints are then applied using techniques to enhance and give depth to the colour within the piece.

And that ought to be enough!

However Liske keeps adding temptation at Littleheath Barn Studio.  It's 25 minutes away and I can live at home.   Sooo tempting!

But looking on the bright side!  I've only signed up for one online course: Wanderlust.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Cas Holmes

I have just spent 3 days at Littleheath Barn doing a workshop with Cas Holmes called: Stitch-Sketch-Books.

I love Cas' style of teaching.  It's a mix of her demonstrating a technique with her asking participants lots of questions so that we learn to explore alongside her.  We were given some activities to try on the first morning and then we launched into a practice piece to try out Cas' techniques.  I collaged two small pieces.

They dried overnight and the next morning I made two wider pieces.

I machine stitched and handstitched on my pieces and folded them to make a zizgzag book.

I had intended to cut up the narrower pieces and put them in between some of the wider bits.  However in the end I cut up the narrow pieces and sewed them into the main piece to make smaller zigzag books within the main zigzag book.

The back shows the stitches and some of the papers I used.  I can still work into the back if I wish.

Some of Cas' questions are really thought-provoking but some answers are quite simple but you're never sure which is which.

I must admit that several times over those days I was reminded of the old story about a Sunday School class:  A Sunday-school teacher asks the class of young children, "What is little and grey, eats nuts, and has a big bushy tail?"

After a moment one child replies, "I know the answer's probably supposed to be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Cas Holmes: From the Land

Last week I spent two days at Littleheath Barn doing a workshop with Cas Holmes.  I was a good girl this time and did exactly what Cas asked - well as near as I could make it.  I sort of did landscape rather than the time I did Venice at a workshop on hedgerows!

I love well-organised workshops and this was a really good example of one.  Cas started with a demo and some talking.  Except it wasn't a monologue - it was a series of questions we had to answer to develop our thinking and our observational skills.  Throughout the day there were more sessions like that.

We started with mark making on white fabric and paper.

Cas had given us a photocopy each and I ripped mine up and placed it over the top of a strip of bought fabric which in turn lay on top of my fabric (above).

I used Koh-i-nor dyes and some acrylic paint.

I removed the paper strips

And then the bought fabric.

I started to look at making layers with the newly painted fabrics and with odd bits I had taken with me.

Cas suggested make 2-3 samples tearing up the papers and fabrics we had.

The last activity on day 1 was to paste all the pieces together, shown here on my third sample

When the pieces were wet with paste they all appeared very dark and very green and went home a trifle disappointed.

However in the morning when they were dry they were much lighter - but still very green.  Cas talked to us about manipulating the surface removing parts rather than adding more.  I removed one small bit but didn't like what I had done and eventually added a bit to cover it up!

Cas suggested that people might like to put the piece they liked best to one side and practise on one of the other pieces.  And, well you know me!  I ignored that and put my three pieces together.

Cas challenged me to bring some of the back to the front and I folded over one of the pieces to make a raised section.

The raised section folds out.

Then I was very brave.  I got my sewing machine out and did free machine embroidery.

Cas gave each of us a personal challenge and mine was to raise a seam.  It's not really clear on this photo but I promise you it is there.

In the afternoon we hand stitched.  At first we were only allowed to use variations of straight stitch and then we could add no more than 2 other stitches.  I used herringbone stitch and a few french knots.

I brought it home with the intention of sticking this piece into a sketchbook.  But Cas shared her photo of it on Facebook and I have received several positive comments about it so maybe I'll do some more to it and find a way to display it.

At the end of the day Cas asked each of us the one thing we would take away from our 2 days.

My reply:  if you don't like work being green then don't start with green paint!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Oops! I've done it again

You may remember that at the beginning of 2018 I told myself to stop signing up for online classes and only do in person workshops.  And mostly I kept to that!  Although I did do rather a lot of in person workshops despite having to cancel a few because of my hand.

By the end of 2018 I felt that for 2019 I should cut back on in person workshops and concentrate on my own work.

Let's see how that worked out!!!!

January
Cas Holmes: From the Land
A mixed media workshop introducing the student to approaches to using paper, textile, print, dye and stitch to create pieces based on the ‘land’ and landscape or a subject of your choice. A focus will be placed on stitching as an extension of mark making and drawing, and various means of layering. We will use photocopies, and build up images, textures and mix materials. The workshop is experimental and intended to provide students with different ideas for development based on the artist’s own practice.

My work from a previous Cas Holmes workshop

January/February
Unlocking the Mystery of Creative Play
‘How do I make better work?’ We will look at simple language and principles of design found in the physical world. Working from a personal starting point, discover tools to create contrast and harmony using colour, value, size, shape, and texture. Bring your curiosity to discover what you like and how to achieve the elements you need to work with your theme and create effective compositions.

Triptych Wallhanging
Three panels that will be mounted on a canvas that can be attached together or presented adjoining each other. Each panel will be a different felting technique and you will be encouraged to use an array of mixed media, metal, stone, fabric, gold leaf for added interest and surface texture, stenciling paints. Cutting and revealing hidden surfaces to building up 3 dimensional tassels, tubes or multiple level craters

May
Eco Dyeing and Botanical Prints
n this course we will cover;
•fabric preparation with mordants in order to develop the richest colour, an essential foundation
•immerse dyeing to achieve beautiful colours and shades
•modifying and enhancing shades and tones
•botanical print direct leaf contact transferring colour from leaf to cloth
•solar dyeing, an effective way to simply allow colour to transfer to fabric
•happa-zome, a quick and satisfying experience of creating pattern and print

In Detail: Inspiration for stitching from sources hardly noticed
Many wonderful inspirational design opportunities exist around us if we take time to discover them. The aim of this workshop will be to begin with the study of examples of small details from natural objects, leading to the development of different personal ideas for work in stitched textiles. Structured experimental design exercises, investigating the scope offered by changes of scale, tone, texture and colour, together with demonstrations, will encourage students to choose ways to develop their ideas both 2 and 3 dimensionally.  Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on making notes and sampling in fabric and thread in order for work to continue later if wished

June
Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word
This workshop will help you to find your own living language through the creation of a vibrant notebook practice. Motivated by ‘haptic’ considerations we will use the sense of touch to stimulate and awaken perception to guide the making process, and to revive sensitivity to the way we communicate both visually and verbally.

July
Leah Higgins: Breakdown Your Palette
This five-day, focussed, workshop combines an in-depth exploration of breakdown printing and the study of colour to create a palette of beautiful, co-ordinated cloth. Working from your own inspirational images or objects you will extract colours to use as you work with a range of breakdown printing techniques. We will also investigate the use of discharge paste in breakdown and how your printed fabrics can be enhanced by other surface design techniques.

Breakdown printing from a Committed to Cloth workshop

So that's 7 major 2,3 or 5 day workshops booked into the first 6 months of 2019.   Not to mention the on going Art Textile Group at Littleheath Barn,  the exhibitions with Traverse and the Master Practitioner course.

It's just as well I'm retired, have no dependants and never do housework!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

February Sketchbook Challenge - what did I learn?

I have blogged weekly about the contents of my sketchbook for the Sketchbook challenge.  You can see the results here: week 1,  week 2,  week 3,  week 4

These are the pages I did on the last two days.

Day 28
A collage of painted papers, a photograph, a picture from a magazine, map paper and book paper.

Day 29
Two small collages with more of a textile feel.

So what have I learned from the 29 days?
1. That it's a good idea to work for a short time every day.   It gets the creative juices going.

2.  That I really enjoyed working with a muted and small colour range.   These are my favourite pages.

3. That I still haven't found my 'voice'.   I may have found the colours to work in but not the work that I want to do.

4. I started the monthly challenge wanting to do something with seedheads but soon found that the leaf stencil dominated.  I also found that I don't really want to work with seedheads.  There's some beautiful work out there from various artists and I was influenced by their work to a certain extent but I need to find my own style and subject.

On Tuesday night I went to a talk by Amanda Hislop and she does some amazing work.  She works with a very limited and muted colour palette on landscapes, seascapes and seedheads - particularly cow parsley.   She showed how she works from her initial idea through her sketchbook to the finished piece.  The sketchbooks were amazing (works of art in themselves) and that led me to my fifth learning point.

5. I've known this a long time but sometimes you need to see it to get it: you have to put effort into it!  Amanda's sketchbooks were full of drawings and experiments.  Sometimes a drawing was only minimally different from the previous drawing.  Her finished pieces were excellent due to the amount of preparation work she had done in her sketchbooks.

So where does that leave me?
I've no idea to be honest but I shall spend time thinking about it and continuing with what I do now until I can really get to grips with the things I've learned.

What have you learned recently about your creative way of working?

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Almost at the end

I have managed to work in my February challenge sketchbook every day so far.  Only today and tomorrow left!   My previous post is here.

Day 21
Copies of a seedhead photo altered to black and white and to greyscale, stuck into my sketchbook and stamped over.

Day 22
A paper I wiped my brayer onto when I was doing gelli printing with extra stencilling and stamped leaves collaged on.

Day 23
Collage on a painted background

Stamping with a stamp I made from a large eraser

Day 24
A string stamp

Stamping on a painted background - all too fussy for me

Day 25
Acrylic paints to make the background. Stencilled on top and drawn into with black and white pens

Day 26
Inspired by the work of Cas Holmes and Jane LaFazio.  Neocolor II crayons on a gesso background.  Stamped and faux stitching

Day 27
Tags cut from painted paper.  Collaged, stencilled and faux stitching

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Venice project

Regular readers may remember that at the end of 2015 I started a sketchbook project on Venice.  I wrote several blog posts including one about a zigzag book inspired by Michelle Ward plus how I used the sketchbook inspiration in the Cas Holmes weekend I went to.

Last Friday I went to Ineke Berlyn's studio where we can work on our own projects and she comes round and encourages each of us and makes suggestions about how to extend the work.

I started with the piece of fabric I had printed at her studio on a previous visit.  I can't believe that was last March.

I used stencils, thermofax screens and fabric paint to add more pattern to the fabric.  When I showed Ineke two of the pieces I made at the Cas Holmes workshop she suggested that I could make a book using these as pages.

I tore the fabric I had printed into page size pieces

And started laying pieces of paper and fabric on top

As I was printing the fabric I also printed into my sketchbook so now I have more pages to work into in the sketchbook as well as the fabric pages.

This spread shows folded pages

now opened up.

The image on the right is a scan of the original drawing and the page on the left is the print I took from the original watercolour.

More sketchbook pages on the go

It will be interesting to see what happens with these backgrounds.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice