Drawing book

I've been playing about transferring one of the drawings, sadly not mine, to fabric. Plan is this will act as the book cover. The way I'm doing it is very simple. You just glue a fresh photo copy face down onto the fabric using matt medium gel. Once dry you soak off the paper and the image is left behind - in theory. It also involves a bit of rubbing to get rid of the paper. If you rub too hard, you take off the image, if you don't run hard enough, a white mist obscures the image once it starts to dry. This was a lovely blurry drawing before I started so the runs and blurs are not part of the transfer process. But I can tell you, blurry and even stronger words that that were being used this morning as I knelt beside the bath trying to make this £$%%@@@*&^ thing work!

Repeat pattern

Just been checking back to see what was happening December last year and guess what? My workroom was a shambolic mess! I see a pattern emerging here...

Book me in for Christmas

Now we're almost into December the teaching work has died down and the shop is madly busy, just as I would hope it would be this time of year. Personally speaking, apart from the increase in retail sales, I'm not a Christmas fan and like to have a BIG project to busy myself with over the holiday season. I have a doozey this year. Binding 400 drawings belonging to other people into a book of some kind. This is my favourite which I intend to transfer to fabric to make the cover. Can't get started until I've cleared away the workshop residue and I still have a mite of unpacking to do. Any of my digital art buddies fancy having a play with these irons?

Sheer landscape

My last mixed media workshops was not a rave success hence the no post or pics. The status quo was restored today however with a sheer landscape workshop in a local arts centre. The participants included two talented girl whom I worked with on some exciting costume (see post on 3rd September). They were showing pictures me of this work in the Edinburgh newspaper and the Scotsman and the Glasgow newspaper the Herald. The Big Time! Anyway, we had a lovely time today painting and sewing and generally mucking about. The moral of this story is probably stick to what you're good at!

Mixed media

I've been in my workroom this morning having a think about what we're going to do at the second mixed media art class. I decided to look at building up complex printed images saving some areas by masking them off with sticky backed plastic. Love the way the sticky backed plastic masks look in isolation when you take them off your print and apply them to another piece of paper. Think this has potential.




Tried glazing over the top of it withLiquitex and liquid acrylics. Not quite there yet but I like the moody, minimalistic sea scape feel you get.

More jewellery from junk

Some more pics Blogger refused last night from the talented East coast junk jewellery makers.

Jewellery from junk

Just back from a fab weekend on the East coast. Had lunch with a new chum to discuss a project in the pipeline that might results in meeting lots more new like minded arty chums. Then caught up with my bestest East coast buddies and together we visited the studios of yet another new chum who is a talented basket maker and bookbinder. She has a glorious, custom made, dedicated studio space which we all envy greatly. We stroked her string collection and fondled her hand made paper before swooping in on an unexpected exhibition opening then swooping off to dinner.

Today I was facilitating a junk jewellery session for a lovely group of people. The group included one brave gentleman who valiantly put up with the slings and arrows of outrageous womanhood giving in return as good as he got. Great day, smashing fun. Here is some of the resulting jewellery.

Mixed Media

Mixed media class was a big success.....for most people. Then we had the guy who announced he was here to learn oil painting and messing about with bits of paper (collage) did nothing for him. I apologised but explained I was only the hired help and suggested he speak to the organisers. He said he didn't want to do that and repeated his complaint. I repeated my answer. He repeated his complaint. I excused myself and said there were other people needing my attention. He made his complaint loudly to whole group. Fortunately he had no takers and eventually he left.

I then discovered this event is FREE to participants. And they were still complaining it wasn't to their liking. Cheeeze!

Thankfully all the other people were game for a laugh and launched into lots of alternative techniques even a kind of sgraffito on top of junk mail.

Did use all my eggs to fill today's basket so will have to scrape the bottom of my mixed metaphors barrel for mixed media class part 2 happening next week.

Between then and now I'm taking an alternative jewellery class for some very talented ladies. Well scary!

Mixed Media

I've been looking at organic ways of making impressionistic landscapes and seascapes without thinking about it too much. Would you believe I hadn't seen the word sails in that collage until I took the photograph. How's that for subliminal?

Mixed Media

I've been given the opportunity to run a couple of mixed media art workshops. This will be another kinda scary first for me. Have settled on collage for one of them so have been in my workroom today revisiting that technique. Here are some of my collages, ancient and modern. We are going to look at Joan Eardlie for inspiration.




I've been given the opportunity to run a couple of mixed media art workshops. This will be another kinda scary first for me. Have settled on collage for one of them so have been in my workroom today revisiting that technique. Here are some of my collages, ancient and modern. We are going to look at Joan Airdlie for inspiration.