Bronnie and Larissa, what a team!   This is the last of 5 daily blog posts about The Geelong Fibre Forum 2023. It was important to me to record as much as I could about my students, their work and all the fun . . . and my dear friends. To see the first post and then the others - go to - Geelong Fibre Forum 2023 The organisation of an event the size of the Geelong Fibre Forum is mind blowing. It is all run by volunteers!! The main 2 being Bronnie and Larissa. How they manage to run The Geelong Fibre Forum every year, whilst working full time and running homes and families - I really don't know. Thank you so much lovely girls, this was a fantastic forum. This year was particularly special for several reasons. One being that Bronnie and Larissa had an exhibition of their own work. It was a real treat to see what they love creating. The opening party was fabulous, very much enjoyed by everyone. Bronnie & Larissa opening the exhibition Lots of happy talk and discussion about the wor

Still Life box by Jane Wolfe   I had intended to add a few of these images to my newsletter, but this collection of work is so good, I wanted to write more about them, so I am writing an extra blog post. The three students mentioned today are on the current online Experimental Textiles course. When drawing and painting is not normally part of your practice, it can very daunting to paint and draw a still life. I don't ask students to draw for the sake of making a picture, I ask so they can actively look at line and form. The spaces in between, the composition. Above - Jane's still life. Below - the still life drawing Jane's finished box. The still life was stuck to orange cotton then cut to shape and folded.   To make drawing and painting a still life less terrifying, I tell my students they will be tearing their work up when the they have finished drawing and painting. This helps to take away the fear of what the finished drawing or painting will look like. To make it more

An amazing sunrise yesterday   Some days just start really well.  We have been enjoying torrential rain, hail and strong winds over the past day or so here on the west coast of Ireland. It was so good to wake up to the most magnificent sunrise. Because the land is reasonably flat on three sides of my house, the colourful light wraps around us. It's like light bathing. It was wonderful to see the colour reflected in the bay. The really deep light only lasted for about three minutes, you have to be quick, then it starts to fade. As we move into the shorter days, it is a great chance to enjoy the sunsets at a more 'civilised' time!   The wonderful light surrounds the house and reflects in the windows.     Time for my bus pass . . I am coming up to a biggish birthday - I am going to become a pensioner next month! I have started to think about just how much teaching I would like to do going forward. It would be good to slow down a bit and concentrate on my own work. There are m

  Sunrise on September 29th Another on September 2nd It's been a while. I was sulking, Yes!! I know it is unattractive at my great age . .  Having the new website built was fantastic. It is so exciting to be able host private groups, my online teaching and in a couple of months, the new online workshop library. There was just one problem, because of changing technology, I was told I couldn't link this blog to the website - Blogger was too old! Until last week when I was having teething problems with the new online program and I mentioned it the guy from Wix who was helping me. And he worked out how to link it to the website, and it refreshes every time I post a new blog - AND the search engine on the blog still functions.  I can't tell you how EXCITED and happy I am. I have been writing this blog since July 2010 - 12 years. Most of my teaching of the last 12 years has been written up on here so if you wanted to know more about Tyvek, Design, Lutradur, Heat guns etc - just p

    This is 'Robbie the Skelly'. I have just finished a 12 week course - Reading You Local Landscape. What a fabulous time we all had. The joint initiative of Clare County Council, Clare Museum and the Limerick and Clare Education & Training Board (LCETB) Heritage Consultant, Zena Hoctor delivered the practical course which enabled our group to identify, examine and record the heritage features of our own local area through a combination of fi­eldwork and desk research.    Our group (on my birthday), at Kilbridget Burial Ground  We had great fun studying the local geology, architecture, archeology, seaweed, history . . and so much more. It was a great luxury to be a student again. Our group are hoping for a follow up course and we feel we have only just begun our research. Fingers crossed.  I shall miss the group and it would be good to be able to work together again.    My project - A Grave Situation! I became fascinated by the carving on gra