As darkness falls over Lake Wanaka.  Apologies for being so woefully behind with this blog, I am still catching up. This is the final post about the The Wanaka Autumn Art School autumnartschool.net.nz    With the weather changing and getting colder almost every day there were some fabulous skies over Wanaka - this is a picture of the sky as we were leaving class during the week - just beautiful. It got quite cold while I was in Wanaka. I could have done with some gloves and had to buy a fleece. I hadn't realised it would be quite so chilly. The five days that I had with my group were just a joy - they worked so hard, but also had fun. They also shared a lot of materials which always helps. I have already shown you the main work from the course, but as is usual on longer workshops, there is a chance to develop ideas . . . .   Collages of painted Bondaweb, large leaves and the odd printing block mounted onto old book pages.

A gorgeous sample that has plenty of foil and gilding flake - scrummy. Well I'm home . . . and just about awake. I feel as though I have been away for 3 years, it was a fantastic break, but now there is a lot to catch up on. nid-noi.com has been busy while I was away with sales of the new KK glue going well.  Some of the colour washed papers drying on the floor. So . . . . .  Back to Wanaka. I had the most fantastic week with this group, they worked really hard and played very nicely together, sharing materials and tools. This always helps a group to 'gel' faster.   As the group produced so much brilliant work I have had to split what they got up to into 3 posts. This post is about the tearing and layering of paper with painted Bondaweb. We were using old books as well as newspaper. There was a bit of resistance to tearing up books by a couple of students - but once they saw we were using old books and atlases that were falling apart, they felt a l

  A very colourful and musical sample of faux chenille. Isn't it amazing when something you have been planning for for a couple of years finally arrives? And then all of a sudden - it's over!!! It's my second to last night in The Antipodes. I am at my motel in Wanaka having had a lovely, lazy day mooching around. The most important part of the day was packing a parcel and sending it back home full of clothes . . .  My suitcase is a tad over weight, not unlike my good self!! I arrived in Wanaka last Sunday having been given a lift from one of the students that had enrolled on my course. We had a very beautiful drive up from Dunedin. . . and then it was straight into setting my room to teach on Monday.    More faux chenille samples. The five day workshop I was due to teach was A New Starting Point. My newspaper based course. It is very odd teaching without a Volvo estate full of my kit. I have to rely on my students bringing everything in - and the odd internat