It used to be an apple for the teacher . . . . So - we have had the fourth session of Experimental Textiles already - time is flying. I save the still life until the fourth session as by then as the groups are feeling more comfortable with each other and friendships are starting to form. The girls are all starting to support each other. Drawing and painting in front of other people is always uncomfortable. Few of us are naturally talented, but the exercise of looking and recording what you see is very valuable. I find that asking the groups to draw and paint a large scale still life is a bit less scary for them than a smaller scale one. The weekend group concentrating hard on their drawings. We spent the whole of the first day of the two day sessions making various drawings and paintings, using a range of media. Several of the drawings/paintings will be torn up the next day to create a collage. Telling the students that their work may well be torn up makes them place l

One of the great paintings generated over the weekend. If any of you have tried your hand at life or still life drawing and are not natural artists you will know the fear of trying. Particularly in a group. There is always someone better you, not that it is a competition, but we naturally feel undermined when someone is better than us - as a general rule.      My Experimental Textiles course  experimentaltextiles.com was written to teach the skills required to help students with their confidence and to start to develop their own style. The exercises and course work that the group work through over the nine weekends will encourage this. Having the end of year show at Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch at the NEC at the end of March gives them a bit of impetus to produce some excellent work if it is needed.  I was very pleased with efforts of the group this weekend, they are now starting to make friends with each other and support each other. I set up the main still li

  Newspaper block printed with Colourful Thoughts multi surface paints (bubblegum & copper) I had a day off yesterday - Shock! Horror!! I had chance to work on a large piece of newspaper faux chenille - Oh no!!! not newspaper AGAIN you cry!!! Colourful Thoughts multi surface paints are thick enough to print with and can be watered down to paint Bondaweb and Tyvek and they are gorgeous. craftynotions I have a deep box canvas 1m x .30cm I wanted to cover so layered up 7 - 9 layers of old dyed newspapers and backed it with some dyed craft/pelmet Vilene. My finished layers were large enough to cover the canvas and stick down around the edges. I have new wooden printing block I wanted to try out that Sarah Lawrence had given me at Festival of Quilts. I printed the top layer of newspaper, waited for it to dry then pinned all the layers together ready to stitch. I wanted to try stitching wider channel than I have been to see if I liked the effect. The channels are 2"

. . . we are working really . . This a shot of the Light Craft Room where I am teaching, it is very well equipped and Hope, Technical Support, is always so helpful and makes sure we tutors have everything we could possibly need for our teaching. We are all having a great time and I will post the work the students are developing in the next two days but now to what else is happening at Denman this week.  Apart from my course there are beading, photography and flower arranging classes going on. These are some of the beautiful displays that are being created But onto something closer to my heart . . the PUDDINGS! Teaching residential courses can be quite intense so I only teach at two colleges four to five times a year. One of the bonuses is the food and how well everyone is looked after. No washing up, no phone calls just teaching FAB students, making new friends and catching up with old ones. It' s a tough job . . . Apple Strudel or - chocolate brownies or - chocolate mouss