Layers of torn newspaper and painted Bondaweb. Regular readers of this blog will know how much I love teaching at Foredown Tower - high up on the Sussex Downs you can see for miles. It is also home to a wonderful camera obscura. The tower is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays with camera shows at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 2pm. On a clear day you really can see forever . . .  . Foredown Tower A New Starting Point is my newspaper based workshop. It is easily my most popular workshop I have ever written. Once the group get the hang of the 'background' and 'pretty' rotation, they are off and away, having great fun throwing glitter and gilding flake around with great abandon. I think that because the workshop is process driven and the samples aren't supposed to 'look like' something, the students can just relax and enjoy making their samples. Colour washed newspaper printed in a similar colour with a wooden printing block. Once the sa

    Ann's first try out of 'flipping out'! As many of you will know, The Festival of Quilts is always a very busy show. You bump into all kinds of friends, ex students and colleagues. . . and not just on your stand. I met Ann Piker when we were both queueing for the loo!!! We started chatting and Ann told me how helpful she had found this simple exercise she had seen on this blog. Whilst I always hope that someone out there is reading this - you never really know. You can analyse statistics, but it is always better to hear these things first hand. I asked Ann to send me some images - and here they are in all their glory. This exercise is taken from a book my tutor Maeve Edwards gave me when she retired from teaching. I worked through two stitch based diplomas with Maeve and it was she that sent me firmly down the experimental route of textiles, for which I will be forever grateful. The book is Creative Paper Craft by Ernst Rottger. It was first published in 1961 by

  A beautiful painting by Pamela Slater Sue and John are having an Open House at their home in La Verdrie, France. I am so cross I can't be here to help - I am off home tonight. I would have loved to have stayed to help with the teas and Sue's fabulous cakes - you know how good I am with cake!!!! Everything is looking fabulous . . .  There will be -  Paintings Greetings cards Textiles Hand-woven Kilims Wood-turning Photography  and Furniture Plus teas, coffee and cakes of all shapes and sizes.   There will also be wood-turning, painting and knitting and crochet demonstrations. 16 rue de la Verderie, 17770 Brizambourg 10 - 4 Sundays 18th and 25th August. if any of you have friends in the Charente Maritime region of France, do share this  with them.  If anyone needs directions - just ring  Sue on  0546 9408 53              Do go along if you can - you will be made very welcome. Have a great weekend -

Gorgeous shapes in the market. I am staying with my friends Sue and John who live in a very quiet and rural area of the Charente Maritime in France.  Sue and I were at art college together - THIRTY EIGHT years ago! How can it be that long? I try to get over here at least once a year. They are very good friends and know me VERY well.  It has been gloriously warm with clear blue skies - just fabulous. It has been wonderful to have the time just to  - be. Does that make sense? We have been quite social with a barbecue yesterday and a big gathering tonight. I will flying back home tomorrow.  One of the local fields of sunflowers. Taking the dog for walks is a great opportunity to take loads of photos. The sunflowers are nearly over now, just the smaller, secondary flowers are blooming - but they are still very colourful - beautiful against the blue sky.  I love looking at the entrances to buildings and gardens - it is fun to imagine what might be beyond the gates and doo

  My dear friend Brenda and I at the Mexican party on Saturday night -  (They are stick on moustaches - not our own!!!) After a wonderful week being a student at the TSG (Textile Study Group textilestudygroup.co.uk) summer school in Newport, Shropshire - I drove down to Redditch ready to for the weekend.  It was the third weekend of my Experimental Textiles course at The Old Needle Works. The plan was to look at positive and negative space and to paint colour wheels.  After having a look at all the homework the girls had done in the previous month we got straight into decorating white cartridge with wax crayons. This is a wonderful 'play school' type of activity where you don't have to think too much. It is a great way to ease into the weekend.     We were going to colour wash these masterpieces with procion dye powder and water on Sunday. The wax resists the dye. Then it was onto the main event of the weekend - Colour Theory!!!! In particular pai