Workshop Preparation

12-02-12, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Various media (inktense pencils, Noodlers bullet proof black ink, watercolour, gouache) in daily journal

Workshop Warm-Up

11-02-12b, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Noodlers bullet proof black ink, white acrylic ink and watercolours in daily journal.

He Is Home

Jake is home safe and sound and he's had the perfect 'lads' holiday with lots of booze and late nights...I can say that out loud now because he's home, safe, here, with me!
Phew!

I was 'The Artists Model' for March Art Group this morning which I really enjoyed. (I was clothed)

A very quick view from the studio window in watercolour first thing this morning, between drying my hair with the studio hairdryer, and today I gathered the seeds from the very first poppy seed pod this year in the garden.

*Sketchbook note of interest:
This sketchbook hates water, especially when using both sides of a sheet. It far too quickly turns to tissue and the surface bobbles terribly. I'm finding it frustrating. I may have to change journals for the school Summer break, those five weeks of journalling are far too important to me to have the paper let me down, I record them for Harry to give to him when he's older.
The A5 size is great to work with though, after so many A6 journals recently.

Two Hour Workshop

I recently held a two hour journalling workshop for the March Art Group. We had a blast!

Back To School - Week 3

Today the children drew grids in their journals and filled them with images of their day. There were alot of blank faces when we started, it's always difficult deciding what to draw but I reminded them of key subjects and before long the room was buzzing with activity.
The children prepared a second grid at the end of the lesson and have taken their journals home for the Autumn break. They will be filling their grid throughout the week so each has a storyboard of their holiday to show on their return...I can't wait to see them!

I'm now packing a sketch bag ready for the morning when I'll be meeting up with Emma-Jane for the 20th Worldwide Sketchcrawl in Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Will share my creations on my return!

Back To School - Week 2

How much fun am I having at these workshops?
I love them!!!
Yesterday each and every one of us played the role of Mother Nature and produced magic. We turned plain green leaves into colourful printed explosions to mark the Season of Autumn.
I managed to sneak a few photos of their creativity at the end of the lesson while their teacher read to them from my 'Voices' journal.

Back To School

Yesterday afternoon I took my first journal workshop at Harry's school. 30 children around the age of ten awaited me and their new adventure.

The children were very attentive while I gave a quick talk about journaling and showed them some of my journal pages. Emphasis was placed on the fact that you DO NOT have to be brilliant at drawing and that 'mistakes' are simply lessons that provide a wonderful record of your improvement over time. I showed them pages in my journals I love and some I feel are my own 'lessons'.

Each child was given a Hahnemuhle Travel Booklet (9 x 14cm Portrait) and our project of the day was to personalise our journal with our very own handprint, a much more creative way than simply writing our names in our books.

The children went about filling their handprint with lots of illustrated personal information, their excitement, creativity and enjoyment was such a pleasure to watch. There were some great ideas buzzing around eg. one young girl decorated her background with her fingerprint, using watercolours.

Below is the pre-prepared example I took, made in my very own Hahnemuhle booklet and the journal page I made during the day in my A6 Venezia.

I am returning next Friday and I enjoyed it so much ...I Can't wait!

Exciting Things

So many exciting things going on this week...First I get a beautiful package from Serena, then I organised and declared my plans for the Summer, our lamp finally refused to work and I sketched by candlelight for the evening, my square tipped waterbrush arrived from eBay, I ordered a custom journal from Kala, three of my favourite artists signed up to a new project with me and tonight I held my first workshop. Phew!

During all of this I have worked on an animal portrait, read some of Danny Gregory's Creative License and produced the blind contour drawing of a mug, completed EDM challenge #167 draw something that needs fixing and ravished a Reese's Nutrageous Bar! Mmmmm!

I am so thrilled to be participating in a new project with Nina Johansson, Jennifer Lawson and Margaret Storer-Roche. We are having a Maruman Exchange (Inspired by MoleyX) and currently await delivery of our new little folding watercolour books. None of us have laid eyes on the books before, so this is all very exciting.

Tonight's workshop was a great success, more so than I could have imagined or hoped for. The feedback was great, we worked hard, had fun and everyone felt they had learned alot. So much so that they all signed up for another one!

I absolutely loved every minute!!!

Ooooh, almost forgot!.....Check this out:

This is a freebie T-Shirt from Vistaprint.The design is not my own but chosen from a selection of designs offered FREE on their website. I immediately thought about my 'Close to Home' project when I saw this little row of houses and quickly decided it would be cool to wear when I am out and about sketching. All I had to pay was the postage!

I also watched the first episode on the first of 3 DVD's in the Power of Art set. Episode one is all about Carravagio, I did catch this one when it was on TV but enjoyed it just as much second time around.

'Drawing?...Who needed it? Carravagio never drew a thing in his life! He'd just look - eyeball - and then paint! ~ Simon Schama, The Power of Art DVD.

Remarkable Rubbish

Summer 2007 journal


On Tuesday 31st July my youngest Son, Harry, and I attended a workshop at Chatteris museum entitled 'Remarkable Rubbish' run by Fred White. The cost of the two hour session was just £3 and it was inspirational. Fred showed the children how to make 'creepy crawlies' out of cling film, computer wire and various beads and yarns - the results were fantastic!

Fred then went on to show Harry how to make masks from old cardboard boxes.




The children were asked to draw a picture of their creations before leaving, something for Fred's archive.
It was a great way to spend a morning and Harry wasn't the only one who enjoyed himself!

Details of the next workshop at Chatteris Museum, 'Nature's Handbag', can be found here.