My first 4 books . .    Welcome to my new blog subscribers.  I have 2 mailing lists one for this blog, and one for my newsletter. This blog tends to be a long read, it can contain all kinds of things, my life here in Ireland, my dogs, my travel, whatever takes my fancy, I can ramble, I like to talk to you all. There is a search engine in the top right hand corner, I have been writing this blog for 10 years or so, so if you want to find out what I have written about Lutradur or Tyvek or New Zealand, anything really . . just pop it into the search engine My newsletter is more of a short read, what is happening with my teaching, news of shows and new travel tours. That kind of thing.         I don't know if you can hear it from where you are, but my brain is whirring with new ideas and techniques. While I am filming and updating my 12 most popular workshops, I am developing new ideas to share with you. My 'what happens if . . ' head is definitely on. More of that in a mi

Layers of Tyvek and polyester organza stitched together and zapped with a heat gun. *** A glorious weekend   Well, what a fabulous weekend. It has been warm in the sun. It is so good to feel the heat, even if it won't be long lived. We have to enjoy the sun when we can in Ireland!!! We have unsettled weather coming up. Over the past couple of days I have been catching up with admin as well as working in the garden. I thought a catch up on my live Zoom workshops might be helpful. We had great fun on The Journey in January and Creating Unique Printing Blocks in February. The Show and Tell 2 weeks after the workshop has proved very successful, students are pleased to have an opportunity to develop their work. There are still spaces on all workshops, so if you would like to learn a new technique, or remind yourself of the fun you can have with any of these workshops, just click the link on the workshop you fancy. This month is Tinkering with Tyvek. I do so love working with Tyvek, you

 A fabulous contrast between light and dark       The clocks have changed - it is getting darker earlier. It's the time of year when  you want to start snuggling in, getting cosy. There is a definitely nip in the air. Time to get out the thick jumpers. The light is changing, getting more dramatic as the days are getting shorter. Because we have so much rain in Ireland, and of course on Loop Head where I live, we have the most wonderful displays of light and colour. The day can be dark with glowering grey clouds, then the clouds part and a shaft of sunlight hits the green fields, Wow!! I love it. 'The Last One' - Mixed media and collage This is one of my latest canvases interpreting the local cows ambling up the low incline on the way to milking. It is one of my favourite sights. I find the rhythm of rural life here very comforting. Another great sky And my interpretation in painted fusible web and newspaper The huge skies and ever changing light will be inspiring me forever

 A detail of one of my vessels Earth Jewels, featuring Lutradur and painted Bondaweb. This is covered in Workshop 6. Well, who knew that a catch up and show and tell 2 weeks after a live Zoom workshop would work so well? Whenever I taught workshops in the olden days before Covid, I would rock up to a workshop with a car load of supplies and samples and teach, have a great time with the students and then leave . . Occasionally students would send me images of work they had developed from my workshops, which was very satisfying.  Technology had a lot to do with it of course. In the real olden days we didn't have the amazing possibilities of digital photography and all the apps we can now use. It is incredible how we can now communicate in seconds, anywhere in the world via the internet. In my lifetime as a traveling tutor I have seen so many changes. It is quite remarkable. So - back to the present . .  My live Zoom workshops are going well, which is great. But what is going even bet