Surface Decoration on Paper and Fabric

I will be running another surface pattern course on the weekend of 19th/ 20th February in conjunction with Horsley Printmakers at The Hearth at Horsley.

Experiment in mixed media using simple printmaking techniques. Learn to paint with inks, using bleaching and resist techjniques to get suprising effects. Print in unconventional ways with embossed wallpaper, printing blocks and lino to create beautiful compositions. Collage using photocopies, tear sheets and printed ephemera.

There are a few places left but you must book by the end of this week. Look at the web site www.horsleyprintmakers.co.uk for more information and email info@horsleyprintmakers.co.uk to reserve your place.

The following work is all by students who attended my last surface decoration course.

Rag Rug Day

Had a cup of tea with mat maker Rachel Phillimore yesterday www.racheltextiles.co.uk. She was telling me of a fantastic textile event which is due to take place at the Shipley Art Gallery Gateshead on Saturday 5th February. An event dedicated to rag rug making in the North East, there will be rugs for sale, rugs to see, rugs to make and rugs to win.

Meet Rosemary Allan, retired Senior Keeper of Beamish Museum and author of ‘From Rags to Riches’, go on a free tour of the Shipley Art Gallery, and enjoy some music with Trevor Reed.

Entry is free and refreshments will be available.

For further information contact the Shipley on (0191) 477 1495 or Room For You on 0191 213 8614.

I once made a rag rug myself through one of Ali Rhind's workshops. She will be there and you can see more of her work on www.alirhindtextiles.co.uk/

Here is my own rug. It is a great traditional recycling craft.

Fashion and Textile Gallery, Bowes Museum

The new Fashion and Textiles Gallery at the Bowes Museum (www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk) is full of wonderful patterns, textures and embellishments. They have a Damien Hirst exhibition on at the moment but I must admit I got a lot more pleasure from looking at the textiles and ceramics!

Scrap Booking

People often ask me where I get my inspiration. The answer is that I have lots and lots of scrapbooks. Over Christmas I have been updating my floral scrapbook which is one of the most useful as it gives me ideas for colours and shapes for both printmaking and textiles.

My imagery is stuck into an old "News Cuttings" ledger which I think I got originally from one of the Lit and Phil's legendary book sales ( www.litandphil.org.uk).