Sample by Julia Zagar Well my first live Zoom didn't go too badly at all. I had 14 lovely ladies in the group who were great fun, and were patient while I learned how to 'pin'. There weren't too many hold ups and I think the flow was there. Zoom can never replace being the same room with your students, but it was a good second best as it was in real time. I have now discovered there is a 'spotlight' function that will help us all see one students work. Who thought we would all be learning all these new skills? A fabulous torn sample that works so well as the colour palette chosen is analogous/tones of one colour with silver highlights. It took a long time to set up for the workshop. Trying to think ahead. The students had a list of materials to paint and collect together before the workshop. The workshop was A New Starting Point, so we were working with painted Bondaweb, painted papers, gilding flake and transfer foils. The worst thing was not being there and b

The view across my field today  Happy New Year!!  All is calm on Loop Head today. The light is bright and golden and it is almost warm in the sun. We have just weathered Storm Bella - for 4 days!! That was a big one. With some amazing waves. But not as big as some of the waves we saw at the end of October - my goodness they were huge, as you can see from this image. Massive waves at the Kilkee Cliffs on the 28th October 2020. This is a short film I made of the waves. Wave Watching at Kilkee Cliffs  ***   It feels we have a lot to catch up on - but not much has happened. Time has certainly passed . . Who would have thought, this time last year, that we would be in turns afraid, angry, scared and just inert, with the feelings that Covid 19 and all the restrictions brought with them. I hope 2021 is finding you reasonably positive and healthy. With the prospect of the vaccine looming, there appears to be hope for us all. Do we have the energy for it? I don't know about you, but I have

 Sunset at Ross, one of my new pieces.  Hello - it's been a while. Isn't life strange at the moment? I certainly chose the right place to live during isolation. Who knew? I don't know about you, but I have swung between total inertia and great creative activity. I'm still not back into any kind of working rhythm.  Here in Ireland we are still in Phase 3 of the Covid 19 recovery. Restaurants but not pubs can open and all non essential international travel is discouraged. Anyone entering the country needs to quarantine for 14 days. It is a bit like living in a parallel universe. Does it feel the same for you? The world has suffered dreadfully, some countries more than others. I don't need to highlight this as we are all very aware of the sadness and terror this pandemic has created. But being aware doesn't make it any less terrible. During this time, a lot of us have discovered just what we don't actually need in our lives. While these things are

  Block print flooded with a colour wash by Janet who is on The Journey workshop. Happy New Year!!!  Yes - I know its the end of March!! It's been a while. Most of you will know the feeling, when you are undecided - you do nothing!! Sometimes inspiration or a direction presents itself - sometimes you just have to wait . . .  I have been getting used to living in a remote area. It has been over 3 years now. Mostly it is wonderful, just occasionally when we are in the middle of a big storm, I lie in bed wondering if the roof is going to come off and question did I do the right thing? The resounding reply is always - Yes!  Any of you who follow me on social media will know how much I love living on the edge of the world. The West Coast of County Clare, and particularly Loop Head, has an 'other worldliness' about it. It is hard to explain, but hopefully is comes through when I post on Instagram and Facebook. This is the website for our little piece of wonderful. www.l

 A section of one of the Journeys half way through.  Right - now where was I??? The Journey in Jaipur . . . It might seem rather a long way to travel to do a design exercise, But I am sure you can imagine the incredible inspiration that we were surrounded by, before we even left the hotel! Your head just spins with all the shapes,lines and forms.  A beautiful lock on a door at the Amer Fort Palace.  Part of a fence in the paper factory we visited. One of the many stunning domed buildings in the Maharani's Garden in Jaipur. If you look back trough the last 2 posts you will some of the inspiration for these Journey exercises.  We painted the first part of the Journeys in a local workshop that had plenty of space for the long pieces of paper we needed. It was cool and not too bright in the workshop, great for relaxing and concentrating on the designs.      The group getting on with creating their Journeys.  Regular readers of this blog will be