Concertina Sketchbook

Last week I spent a couple of days at Littleheath Barn doing a Concertina Sketchbook workshop taught by Karen Stamper.  I did a one day class with Karen last September, but between the fact that I was hosting and that I had only just got the use of my hand back, I thought I would try again with this 2 day workshop.  And I'm pleased I did because I achieved so much more and the pages look more like I wanted them to.

On day one we started by preparing some of the pages in the sketchbook.

Then we added coloured inks.  I used Black and Sepia.

Karen demonstrated various techniques and I built up layers as the day went on.

At this point I realised that the pages weren't working how I wanted them to, and I turned the book up the other way.

By the end of day one I had 12 pages that I was mostly happy with and in the last half hour I started on the next 12 or so pages.

I'll show you day two next time.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

                                                                       

Near & Far

Back in May 2018 I wrote this: I have joined an online group called Near & Far.  This is a Facebook-based group run by Chris Gray.  She hopes that we will have a gallery exhibition at some point.   The theme for this group is Maps & Journeys.  And guess what I'm doing!

That's right! Venice!

We each have to make a minimum of 3 pieces - one wearable, one useful and one decorative.  I am going to make a Venice-inspired dress, a sketchbook with a Venice-inspired cover and a scroll book as the decorative piece that will be some sort of imagined journey along the Grand Canal.   I have bought several books about secret Venice so watch this space!


So over 12 months later I started making the first piece.  The decorative piece which isn't going to be a scroll at all.  At the end of August I wrote about a workshop I did with Clare Bullock that resulted in me making 9 pieces of nuno felt that I stencilled on.

In the last few weeks I have been stitching each piece.

All the pieces have been stitched together - in a different arrangement from the first photo!

It's finished apart from working out how to fix the piece to the batten so it hangs on the wall.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

U is for Unity

In our Living Your Word of the Year group we are using a fortnightly (bi-weekly) A-Z challenge throughout the year to help us focus on our word and live it out.

Because of the way I have made my journal it's a case of going with the flow of what background the pages have when I turn to them.

Sadly, I was feeling totally devoid of any creative inspiration for these pages.  The quotes I had found were rather long so I decided against cutting them up into strips.

I added some washi tape and the word unity.

Both pages together.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Join Mary Brack, Valerie Sjodin and I in our Facebook group where we are giving participants the opportunity to live out an A-Z of their own word throughout 2019.  Mary explains what we are doing in her blog post.  We don't like a lot of rules, so we will have suggestions and options to spark creativity, and to help in recording and exploring our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We will each blog about our experiences and our art.

 Living Your Word of the Year 2019

Hashtags on Instagram:  #livingyourword2019

Check out the other blogs:
Mary: www.foundonbrighton.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog

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