Have fun and learn

How many times have you seen a great  course advertised that you really want to do then come the logistics,home,responsibilities,work,holidays ,travel ,kids,dogs ,the cat the et etc etc.I t has happened to us all at some time or other.

Well it is sorted now !

Dionne Swift the Yorkshire based award winning artist is now offering online textile silk screen print techniques from your armchair.

I love armchair courses and those who know me know I take at least 4 per year and do it like a mission even to my shopping done and my meals sorted for the week.It is my time and I guard it jealously and even take the phone off.

I will immerse myself in the learning curve and thoroughly enjoy it.Living where I do it is sometimes the only way .

There are good courses and bad courses but no matter whether you learn from home or attend we all rely on recommendation or knowledge of the teacher or the portfolio of the artist,to help us sort the wheat from the chaff.

I hadf met Dionne albeit only briefly at show and done a short course with her but having been following her work carefully and was delighted to see the 1st online course advertised.

Last week was GREAT  and I had so much fun I had my supplies ready took note of what we needed to have to hand and off I went .

I had lunch when I was ready for it ,I had my cup of tea to hand all day ,made as I like it and even my trusty familiar tools with me because of course I was at home .I watched the great video and took notes, had a cuppa digested the info, thought about it, and got cracking with my work.

Why a screen printing course I hear you all ask when screen printing is what I do  for my felting,well you can always learn from others always  and also these weeks remember are my treats they are ‘My Times.

Go along and visit Dionne  and take a course –you will enjoy it and learn heaps.

I hope to persuade her to join us in the SDA and be an active member of the UK group.

Just showing small part of my work      

   and just so you can see I am not biased as to studio based learning I am going to immerse myself in Devore with Dionne in the Autumn at her studio workshop another fab ‘me time to look forward to.

Remember to grow we must keep learning.

Also need numbers soon for the textile treats retreat next year In Durham .

New author on the blog

forgive the ‘pun’

Well we are lucky, Lynda Howells has agreed to come on board and post to the blog although she is very busy with the opening of her new Art studio in London.

I am sure she will tell us all about it and those who live nearby can check it out —looks great fun –looking forward to your posts Lynda

Authors

Have a voice

Have a pen

Have something to say

Do become an author on our own SDAUK blog –email and I will add you on as author

Roving Reporter gets to the Tate Modern

Kim of Flextiles fame has acted as a roving reporter for me and brought us a marvellous account of the exhibition at the Tate Modern .

Now I am living so far from London it is hard to keep up with all the ‘happenings in town ‘ but I am drawn to getting a train and heading back to see this for myself .

From all of us here at SDA UK Kim a big Thank you for allowing us to publish

Have a read you will find it under  Exhibitions

Great Start

Great start for the UK blog as we have had over 1300 visitors this year so far so lets keep growing.

I really believe the links artists make through our association are invaluable to us and the contacts for our work etc a priceless commodity.

Apart form writing  the blog and trying to keep in touch I aim to start emailing the news around as well and get some good links going  for us all.

News and Events are still needed and do advertise them here on the blog –free advertising and we do get picked up on the  google search engines pretty high up.

 

I will be teaching in the School of Creative Arts in Arbruzzio Italy in October 2013 more on this later but the whole calendar of

events for the school are on the SDA website and Arbruzzio School of Creative Arts web site.

A link made for me by my membership.It is going to be a great  week  and I am already very excited about this .I am teaching in Michigan USA this September and I have heard this is now all booked up.Travelling on to Canada to see my brother for my birthday I will meet up with Judy Alexander in Vancouver which I am looking forward to.

I am submitting my work to belong to the Teesdale Open Artists so fingers crossed  for me on March 5th.

 

Textile Retreat in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Not long ago I posted the notion of a textile holiday in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty here in the UK.

This is open to everyone and especially SDA members worldwide.

I am setting up a page for this holiday so please check in and let me know the definite names please–there are only 20 places and 14 have gone .

The cost for all the trips,pick up from the airport,full board for 8nights will be £595.00 .

We will be in Durham and staying within arms length of the Cathedral have full board ,trips to Lindisfarne ,Bamburgh Castle,

North Pennines,Raby Castle and Bowes Museum,the dates are Easter 2013

Belated Happy New Year

The year for me got off to avery busy start and has not slowed down all month yet.I am tucked away in my North Pennines home writing designing etc.

So what was decided as being aJanuary 2nd post has sadly turned into a Friday 13th post —sorry ,cannot believe half of the beautiful month has gone already.

I could not get to the Vand A  in London for the Power of Making but a friend volunteered to go and write a report for us so a big big ‘Thank you ‘to Lynda Howells.

Lynda is passionate about textiles and art and has produced  a lovely report ,very visual as well.

This report is 24 pages long so I have saved it as a pdf and will place it on a page of its own marked Exhibition Reports

Extra news

We do only have 6 places left now for the tour around areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in The NorthEast Of Britain and I hope we will be treated to a workshop inspired by the surroundings from an award winning artist from America Pam McGregor.Last year alone  she  had a vessel in the 500 Felt Objects book, 9 new vessels in national and international shows, one of the vessels got first place in an the international Handweavers Guild of America show and she  teach felt workshops all over the US,so if she agrees to show us some of her secret unusual ways of forming these beautiful vessels we will be very lucky.

Also we have another talented artist attending who equally may be spurred on to also give us a talk on surface design–watch this space.

I have kept this tour small so I can get the ideas behind the organising of such things and we are being helped in this by Mr James Randle   Choir Director and Director of Conferences and Pilgramages at St Chads College Durham where hopefully we will be staying.

James will be helping organise all the venues we wish to see and our dining and accommodation so indeed we are very lucky in this aspect.

Please if you are considering joining in do let me know asap and spaces have gone so quickly.

Next

This year I would like someone to suggest where the UK members could meet up and have coffee and touch base as to what we want from SDA UK and do we want a week retreat or a weekend learning session etc –please let us get together on this and for this purpose I am opening a Facebook page for SDAUK where we can all interact

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I am busy organising the retreat for Easter 2013 where we will stay at a World heritage site within touching distance of Durham Cathedral.We will visit Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castle and the wild Northumbrian coastline.

We will travel as well in our own minibus to the North Pennines which is also my home and spend 2 days there exploring areas of  Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Sited atop the volcanic mound known as Beblowe Craig, Lindisfarne Castle is one of the most distinct and picturesque features of the Island and can be seen for many miles around.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the Castle was built in the 1550′s using stones from the demolished Priory. In 1901, Edward Hudson (founder of Country Life magazine) negotiated its purchase from the Crown and in 1902 Sir Edwin Lutyens (the well-known architect) began the conversion to create the Edwardian country house you see today. The Walled Garden (originally the Fort’s vegetable garden but re-designed by Gertrude Jekyll in 1911 as part of the conversion) lies to the north of the castle some 500m away. Her plans were recreated by the National Trust.

There are only 20 places and now 8 are remaining. The costs will be kept down as much as possible.                  

Of course I am sure many of you realise Harry Potter was filmed within Durham Cathedral .

Workshops and talks will be arranged during our time based on surface decoration inspired by the Area.

Bamburgh Castle  one of the finest castles in England .

 

Inspiration

When we start looking for Inspiration for our work we often start in the garden ,at this time of year I love the frosty scopes I can see and the shapes of the shrubs protruding through the snow ————–well December 4th 2011 and this is my winter scape in my town garden, inspiration shots and to see is to believe but oh I do worry how Nature seems to have got into such a pickle .

 

Hows your inspiration going? –looks like flowery  Christmas cards this year.

Fuchia flowering with delphinium,winter shrubs,and pansies,and summer geraniums,campanulas,spring bulbs ,sage and verbascum ——–Crazy days

Busy week

A busy week on our new blog with plenty visitors and another piece in the gallery which is great so ‘Thank you’ and there is loads of room for more so keep sending them in to me.

Here we have had the Knitting and Stitching show and sadly my camera played up so hopeing I will get some images from another source to show ,but it was full of fabulous stuff.

My latest piece is finished and in the post to my competition winner.

A new book is to be started in the New Year so far for now it is rest time.