A successful workshop

I've got to say I'm delighted with how well my first public workshop went yesterday. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, made a variety of notebook covers, cuffs, bookmarks, a needle case, ipod cover, a piece for a cushion & were happy with what they  achieved. So was I! Thanks for coming everybody ;)

You can see below one of the inspiration books I took, Jan Beany & Jean Littlejohn's of course, "Seductive Surfaces"  The cover features work by Louise Baldwin, someone I've admired for a long time, when I came across an article, possibly in Country Living mag when she said she painted, ripped & stitched brown paper & 'mundane' bits & pieces. She's a little elusive - the link is just to the first google entry. Work your way thru a few entries & you get a variety of her work. I'd love a workshop with her.

7 lovely ladies work

I could NOT have done it without Rag Tag's wonderful girl, Beth who volenteered to come & help, mainly with the 7 different machines, & rewinding bobbins etc but she was worth her weight in gold! I'm so tired but so glad I've done it ;)

This weeks collage was meant to be a wonderful monoprint, inspired by the fabulous book "The Painted Quilt" by Linda & Laura Kemshall. What a feast for the eyes. It's another book I've had for a long time but not quite sure what to do with. Over time I find, when I've tried a few things out, then go back to a book, I understand a little more, lovely. I started a Printmaking short course 5 weeks ago at the  West Highland College up the Island in Portree. We started with linocutting & were going to move on to monoprinting then collography, my favorite part. My lino block was of drawings of the last few seedheads clinging on in my garden; poppies, honesty & fennel & some lovely grasses down the road. But the tutor had a horrific car accident, broken leg, hips/pelvis, ribs, arm & cheeks. What can you say but wish her a speedy recovery; she is walking a bit on a frame but what a life changing thing.

My friend & I are carrying on ourselves until they can restart the course one day - she has a baby printing press, well, the kind you roll the work thru. So there's more to monoprinting than meets the eye, I discovered but I had fun trying! As I was doing poppies at college I thoought I'd continue before Spring is really here as the Kemshalls do them so well -  I love Ro Bruhn's poppies too!

That's DH's birthday card on the right

The idea is you can draw in the paint, cut out a shape to resist the paint & paint thru a stencil . As the monoprint wasn't clear & the painted stencil smudged i drew into them.

Then I markal paint sticked a stencil into a resist ('scuse the English!)

Then you can carefully peel up the resist shape & stick that down - far right above & in the top 2 pics - by the time I cut out 3 shapes my joints were falling off! I will make a stencil to keep out of my newly aquired freezer paper but I enjoyed adding the newspaper ones to the mix. These samples will go into my sketchcbook & for the actual collage, once the joints had a nights rest ;)  I made these two.

Might add these to the Sketchbook Challenge, just realised they are 'opposites' :) Crooked, I know.....tired! & I will get them mounted!