A detail of Susan's magnificent quilt depicting the classic image of the Irish workmen sitting along a beam on top of the Rockerfeller Center in New York. There was me, all excited about sh owing you my stu dents work at the NEC - and I forgot to show you mine!! Susan Chapman and I had a gallery space at the show entitled People and Places. S usan loves observing people and you will no doub t be aware that I love all kinds of N a t ure and Her textures . It is a good thing that Susan makes large quilts, bec ause surprise, surprise, I didn't get all the work I thought I would do, done.     The beginnings of the hanging . . Susan up a step ladder. It was great to get the chance to spend some time with Susan and enjoy her fabulous work. I love how well observed her figures are, deceptively simple, but showing the stance of a person with a glance - a great skill.   Everyone loved this quilt, nearly everyone recognised where the image was f rom.

   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.

 Layers of Vilene Spunbond CS 500 and 800 zapped and layered with polyester organza and mounted on hessian.  Phew! what a week - it was very full on what with staying in Katoomba and teaching in Springwood but we coped admirably with lovely students providing lifts. I was staying in a little house with my wonderful friend Mary Hettmansperger who was also teaching and who makes the most beautiful metal jewellery.  www.maryhetts.com All the classes for the Contextart Forum were held at Springwood High School or Korowai School . I had 14 students in my class which overlooked the school playing field. Everyone got on very well and all were happy to work on samples rather than make anything considered 'finished'. The group worked well together and we all soon gelled. You can almost hear the cogs turning with concentration.   Sulpher Crested Cockatoos wrecking a tree out side our window.  I'm afraid I was bit naughty now and then when I