Playtime!

Well, hubby was away last night so I took the opportunity to have an arty playtime once the kids were all in bed! I started by painting four canvases which I am preparing for our craft table at 'Sparkle'~our church's ladies' conference, in November. Once they were done, I decided to have a play in my art journal.

And here is the result!


Quite pleased with it myself!!!


Not bad for a bit of a messy fabric, paper and stuff doodle!!!

And now, time to stop playing and go and collect the little girl who has just been having her taster morning at BIG school!!! Eeek!

Bye for now.
xxx

The house that I built

Just thought I would post this little house on the blog today as I am entering a readers' challenge in my most fave art/mixed media magazine that I subscribe to~Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

I was well pleased with myself for even attempting this challenge as I have never done one before and really enjoyed making my little house!! So even if it doesn't get selected to be put in the mag, it was a great experience just getting on and doing it!

It's good to step out and try new things!

Have a great evening all!
xxx

Great Expectations.

Well! What a week it has been so far! An exhibition which finishes on Sunday this week, and working along side artist Paul Hobbs and fellow artists Caroline, Lin and Rachel for two days at an Art and Religious Studies workshop for Secondary School pupils across Cheltenham and Gloucester.

A while back, I had been asked to participate in a project by a friend from Church who works for the Dioceese, which would involve us as artists helping specific gifted and talented pupils from a range of Secondary schools in Cheltenham and Gloucester. The aim was that they were to produce a piece of artwork based on a text in the Bible called the Beautitudes in a two day workshop assistedby ourselves.
I immediately loved the idea but had to think about childcare before I could commit to the project. After a phonecall to my parents, I was happy to tell Deb that I would indeed be free to help over the two days! So after a planning meeting to discuss the outline of the project we just had to sit back and wait (with a bit of planning) for the date to arrive! (Well, in reality, I had to get on and do the work i needed to do for the exhibition at Cheltenham Open studios which happened to run on the same week!!!!)

So on Tuesday evening this week I set off to our church building armed with various paraphanalia and visual stimuli ready to decorate the workspace for the kids to use on the Wednesday and Thursday!


The workshop started on the Wednesday with Paul outlining the day and then showing the pupils a range of his work that was based on the Beautitudes and other subjects and then he introduced the artists who were going to assist in the creative period of the day. We each spoke for a few minutes on our work and what we liked to work with, and then we showed them round each of the three workspaces pointing out the materials available and which artist would be working in which rooms.
After an ice breaker session and a brainstorm of ideas the pupils all chose their prefered room and got to work for the remainder of the day with exploring their ideas and starting their piece of artwork.


It was great coming along side the kids and asking them about their initial ideas and watching them take shape throughout the afternoon.

After a tiring but good day I returned home to my hubby and kids having spent an anjoyable time on the project.


On Thursday it was suggested that I moved into a different room to assist Lin with her group as there were more in her group and there was more help needed than in our textile room. So I got to work with a lad whose idea needed to take shape quite alot if he was going to finish it by the end of the day. But amazingly, he worked like a trojan and finished the piece in time so I could also help others to get their pieces done on time too!

I came back on such an emotional high that evening after the kids had all gone home and only one having not finished her piece out of about 30 kids! I had got really stuck into working along side the kids and prompting ideas and giving suggestions and it gave me such a buzz that I hadn't expected to have!

The pieces of work look great and they are going to be shown in various locations and exhibitions in the near future and it was just such a wonderful, exciting experience that I enjoyed much more than I thought I was going to~and I thought I would enjoy it anyway!

I haven't included photos of the kids work but there was such a variety of different expressions and styles and I think they too had a fab time!


Well there was a long waffle! But that's it for now.
Byee.
xxx
P.s Many many thanks to my folks for looking after the kids while I enjoyed myself on this venture!!! :o)

She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore

I wouldn't say I was what one would call obsessive, but I found myself amazed at how sea shells on a beach could become so important in my world this past week!

We went on holiday to Wales this half term holiday and spent a lot of time on the beach.
A sandy beach.
A sandy shell covered beach.
A sandy shell covered beach that I could not take my eyes off.
A sandy shell covered beach that I could not take my eyes off and just had to pick up as many shells as I could type beach!
I was amazed at the pull that these shells had on me as I looked at one and then another and then another and another....(I could go on...) and just wanted to take all of them individually and marvel at their individual beauty and amazingness (is that a word??No I thought not!). I NEEDED these shells!!!


Parts of the beach had shells dotted about here and there and then as the sea receeded there were other parts of the beach that were absolutely covered with shells. And then I found up by the rocks near the edge of the beach hundreds upon hundreds of shells which had been washed up by the sea and looked as though they had been swept up against the rocks in piles! What an amazing sight! And all the while, as I spied these shells in varying degrees, there was me thinking to myself "Oh look! There's another one that looks amazing! I'll pick that one up!..Oh look! There's another gorgeous one!...."



Upon returning home and tipping the accumulated shells I was actually rather surprised that I hadn't collected as many as I had originally thought. But what amazed me as I sorted them out was that each one of them was so different from the one next to it, and so beautiful in its own right, even though on mass, it could just look just a collection of shells. Made me think of us~so beautiful and precious and all of us individuals!


So maybe not so much 'obsessive' but instead an compelling sense of the importance of marvelling at something so beautiful.

Have a great week all! xxx