New Courses Coming Up!

Hello all,

I am excited to have a few new courses starting up this month. Expressive drawing which is a great way of exploring drawing in a new and exciting way. In this course we explore using different mediums each week including pastels, watercolours and even coffee.

https://www.straightcurves.co.uk/class/expressive-drawing-course/

The second is an Introduction to Art Journaling which is a great way to get started with fantastic techniques to try each week. You also get a handmade journal to start you off.


https://www.straightcurves.co.uk/class/introduction-art-journaling/

Interested? come take a look! 

Bye for now xxx

New Art Journaling Club!

Hello All, 

Some exciting news! My new Art Journaling Club starts this week at Straight Curves in Chesterfield.

Art journaling club is a place to come and be creative with friends. If you lead a busy life and never find the time to be creative at home, if you would like to art journal but haven’t got the materials or space at home or if you don’t know where to start your pages and need the inspiration of others around you then this is the place to come! 

Art journaling is the combination of mixed media art and words. There are no rules, anything goes! Mix in creating with friends over a cuppa and a few biccies and the result is a club full of fun, laughter and lots of painty goodness.

In these sessions your tutor will be there as a guide but what you choose to do or create in your journals is up to you! If you are just getting started I recommend my beginners’ course as this will provide more support for you to start your art journaling journey. You can find all the details by following the link below:

https://www.straightcurves.co.uk/class/art-journalling-club-intermediate-advanced/

Art Art & more Art!

Hello All!

Well I am now a few months into running my new art workshops and I have to say I am absolutely loving them and they are going so well. I have met some fantastic people and it feels wonderful to inspire others to try new things!

The courses I have run so far are 'An introduction to Art Journaling' and I am in the middle of a 5 week 'Expressive Drawing' course. I have also been tutoring one lady one to one in abstract art and getting set for some lovely Christmassy one off workshops over the next few weeks.

While all this means is I have less time than usual I have found myself totally inspired and keep sneaking off whenever I have a minute to work on my own stuff and to come up with new ideas for workshops.

Here are a few shots from the recent workshops:

It is lovely to see how different everyone's work is. I am particularly proud of the drawing course. Some of the participants were nervous and unsure of their abilities to start with however two of them were so proud of their drawings they have since framed and put up their work at home.

As well as the workshops I have been very busy with a new abstract canvas, here's how it looks so far:

At the moment I seem to be attracted to yellows which is unusual because it is not a colour I normally use. That said I am loving how this one is turning out!

More to come some! Bye for now xxx

New Expressive Drawing Course!

Hello All!

Some exciting news! My new 'Expressive Drawing' course is now up and running! Please see the following link for further details and how to book:

https://www.straightcurves.co.uk/class/expressive-drawing-course

Come and take a look!

Mixed Media Tags

Hello All,

What a busy bee I have been these last few weeks! It has been a bit mad whilst I have been setting up my new workshops and planning the next ones as well as taking on some Aerial hoop classes teaching people to be acrobats (which if you weren't aware is another passion of mine!)

The Art journaling workshops are going really well and I am now 2 weeks in to a 5 week course. The group I have is lovely and the feedback I have been getting so far is good. I love teaching, it is fab to get to know my group and watch their different styles develop. Here are a few snaps of the lovely work they have been producing so far:

One lovely lady has also asked me for a few one on one sessions in abstract art which I will be starting next week. Really looking forward to that, it should be loads of fun.

I have also been busy planning some other workshops, one of which is mixed media tags and I have been really enjoying making these in preparation. Take a look:

These are made from recycled bits and bobs and I adore the results! That workshop should be appearing very soon!

I'll keep you posted!

Bye for now! xxx

New Art Journaling Course!

Hello All!

Some exciting news! My new Introduction to Art Journaling course is now up and running! Please see the following link for further details and how to book:

https://www.straightcurves.co.uk/class/introduction-art-journaling

Sessions are available in both the afternoon and evening and a separate afternoon session is also available for ages 10-16. If you fancy coming along please take a look!

There are also some one off workshops as well as an expressive drawing course coming soon. I will keep you posted!

The art journaling course is full of fun techniques to try and includes your own handmade journal to work in! Hope to see you there!

Bye for now! xxx

Experiments

Hello!

Well I realise it's been a while so first let me apologise for that. It has been a busy few weeks! I have been feeling very inspired lately to experiment and play with new things and go back and try my hand again at old things that I haven't done for years!

One reason for this is that recently I applied to go on 'The Big Painting Challenge' on the TV (this is a series that has a different challenge every week and one artist gets knocked out each week) Don't get too excited, it doesn't look like I have got through but by just applying got me experimenting with different types of paintings and with different mediums that I haven't reached for in ages.

Here are a few of the experiments!

This is my cat Biscuit! This was done on watercolour paper with brushos. I use brushos all the time, love them for adding colour to my paintings and mixed media projects but I have never tried to paint an image with them alone. I was really pleased with how this came out!

This one I did in only 10 minutes and with pen and brushos again. I wanted to it to be a bit freer and more expressive. It's simple but effective I think.

This one (again on watercolour paper) is done with brushos, pen and watercolours. I love how this one came out, it is definitely my favorite of the three. I really enjoyed using watercolours, they are not usually my 'go to' paint but this has led me into a bit of a watercolour phase at the mo. I am doing loads of experiments with them. I have never been taught to use them and never had the inclination to try until now. I will keep you posted with my progress!

I have many other projects on the go at the mo, including a new mixed media canvas and an art journaling workshop that I am running this week with a new group, which fingers crossed will lead to lots of workshops in the future! 

I will try and post again this week to show you more recent work. Until then bye for now! xxx

Bookbinding

Hello All,

Recently I have been watching a lot of bookbinding vids on you tube. I would like to learn more myself and I have in mind a bookbinding workshop, creating a 'art journal to go' where all the pages will be bound with pre-done backgrounds making it great for travelling.

I found a fab you tube channel called Sealemon with lovely clear tutorials on different stitches and bookbinding ideas. So I decided to follow one of the tutorials and try out coptic stitch using sketch pads for the signatures and the board at the back of the pads for the covers. Here are the results:

This should be a perfect stitch for what I have in mind. I plan to also include my own video tutorials as part of the workshop so watch this space!

Bye for now! xx

First Commission Finished!

Hello All!

I realise I have been a tad quiet on here recently, I have been very busy with my commissions and I have finally finished the first one!

I am really pleased with it and when I delivered it last week she loved it! It is the first time I have ever painted a beard (and lets face it what a beard to start with) and I am really pleased with that bit!

The text is taken from one of the subjects songs as are the crabs and fish.

And so straight on to the second one which I am doing in wintry colours with lots of snowflakes. Here is what I have done so far:

I am loving this one so far and can already really visualise the final thing and where I will be placing the portrait. I have to get this done before Christmas so going to be busy on this for a while!

In other news there is a new monthly challenge which I will be looking into and I am planning a series of bookbinding workshops to create a 'journal to go' which hopefully will also include some video tutorials as well. busy busy busy!

Bye for now! xx

Workshop Session 25th July 2015

Hello All,

On Saturday I delivered the last of four workshops at Sharrow Vale School of Art in Sheffield. The theme for this session was 'Horizon' and I demonstrated a scratch technique with oil pastels and black acrylic paint. Here is my sample page.

We painted a layer of gesso then split the page with masking tape and painted a sky in the top half. The bottom half we drew block shapes in oil pastels, using many colours and then painted over the top with black acrylic. Once dry we scratched into the black to reveal the colour underneath.

Here are some photos from the workshop.

The session went really well. I will be arranging some more workshops in the Autumn.

Bye for now xx

Tags

Hello All,

I have been busy the last few days working on my July art swap. This month I have to create three tags, one in pastels, one in bright colours and one tonal. I have really enjoyed working on this, but I won't post piccies up until I have confirmation that my partner has received them. But piccies and a new video coming soon!

Whilst making the tags I decided that I am going to make sets of three tags to sell at my Dovefest craft stall in August to go alongside all the journals I have been making for it. I had a practice run for these and this is what I made:

I gelli printed the background and added the butterflies on top. I am going to do these in all colours and all different but going to try and keep them all quite simple.

In other news I have my last of four workshops this Saturday so looking forward to that and really enjoying working in my altered book but will post piccies of this when I have done a bit more. Once my workshops have finished my summer project is to get started on my portrait commissions!

Bye for now! x x

Art Journaling Workshop 11th July 2015

Hello All,

On Saturday I delivered the 3rd of 4 workshops. This one was titled 'A Word About Me' I demonstrated a woven paper background and we also created a textile and wax paper pocket containing a word about me and some little bead embellishments. Here is my sample page:

Here are some photos from the session.

 

Anna's

Becky's

Susan's

Jill's

Jill decided to turn hers into a book cover which I love, It inspired me to use the technique on some of my journal covers. It is a little fiddly to do but looks great once its painted. It is quite a simple layout for me but I liked the background and wanted to showcase that.

One more workshop to go for this season, really enjoying it!

Workshop Session 4th July 2015

Hello All!,

This session was titled 'Time Capsule' and the idea was to create time capsule letters. An idea inspired by the artist Jenn Garmen. The group wrote letters to their future selves and decorated an envelope to contain this using whatever mixed media their chose.

For the background I demonstrated a wax resist using wax paper and ink sprays and we also rubbed ink pads over the used wax paper and added this to create layers. Here is a little video I made demonstrating these techniques.

The group finished their pages by adding titles, further collage, paint etc and stuck in their time capsule letters with a date on which to open them in the future. Here a few pictures of their work.

Anna's page

Helen's first ever page!

Maxine's page