30/08/2012

Felt Making Workshop

As part of the Brighouse Arts Festival I was asked to run a workshop, and here it is. We had a lovely afternoon exploring Needle Felting and a variety of ways of working.




I demonstrated felting onto pre-felt, needling just the wool, 3D felting and using a mould. I love the way that everyone works in different ways. Once everyone got working the atmosphere was lovely, a cuppa was made (and a few needle broken) I had a look at how everyone was doing...



The work done by everyone at the end of the afternoon was fantastic. I hope everyone will continue to explore felting as it is a lovely medium to work with xx



23/08/2012

Art in the Pen

What a fantastic weekend I have had. It has been a huge learning curve and a wonderful experience.

My pen at 11am... it was bigger that I thought...

So shopping trip later, one more table purchased and more fabric, I can begin to start creating my little gallery for the weekend.


3 hours later and I am getting a little stressed, this is taking longer than I thought it would...


At last ready for viewing. 



So, a little time to sit and look at my work and I have to say I am really proud of myself and the work I have done. It made me think of my mum (for those of you who don't know me personally, my mum passed away 9 1/2 years ago now, she was my best friend and would have loved what I have done) and I have to admit I sat and had a little cry... 
So ready for the opening and to start the ball rolling we had a welcome from Clare Allen (Art in the pen Organiser) and speaker Karen Sherwood of Cupola Gallery. Karen spoke about her journey from graduating from Sheffield University to where she is now. It was inspiring and made me think that anything is possible if you are passionate and determined about what you do.

So the preview was opened and the public got their first glimpse of the work on display. The 70 Artists exhibiting had work hard to get their pens looking like mini galleries and the work on display was outstanding. Thanks to Emma and Pauline for coming to see the work, it was lovely to see some familiar faces.
My first sale :)

The rest of the weekend only got better. I received some lovely compliments about my work and loved the fact that other people like what I do. After a hectic morning I was beginning to find my feet and was enjoying talking to visitors from all over the country. I sold my first large piece of work in the afternoon and was on cloud 9 :) By the end of the day I was shattered but really happy with the way the day had gone. So out to tea to catch up with my family and then it was up to my studio to make more stitched collage cards.


Sunday was quieter (on a little) and again everyone like my work and display. I had a chance to look around the other artist work and bought 2 handmade books from Annwyn Dean and Elizabeth Shorrock. I could have spent a fortune (if I had it) as there was a lot of work that was fantastic.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I hope I can take part again next year xx








14/08/2012

New development... Vase Sleeves

I have seen in the past work that goes around vases.




I was reminded of this after seeing the work of  Tracie Murchison
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tracie-Murchison/208260969222279

I decided to see if I could wrap my work around a vase...
Prototype number 1


After 2 days playing I have some ready for Art in the Pen this weekend...








Developing into cushions...

Started creating cushions and pin cushions based on my larger canvas's...





Trawden Show

Had a lovely time at the Trawden Show. Met some lovely people who said some complimentary things about my work. Hopefully doing a christmas crafts in November and linking up to a facebook page to sell work through as well. WIll keep you updated xx


been away for a while...

Not blogged in a while, been away and also busy creating work for the Trawden Show and Art in the Pen. Had a fab time away at the seaside and even then my work is on the back of my mind. Saw loads of fantastic seed heads and pods that have sparked new images and ideas.



Then while on a walk round Sandsend I came across a seed head that had heart shaped seed heads... totally gorgeous