26 February 2025

19 February 2025

Today we continued with our handmade sketchbooks (including one very fancy piece of side-stitching), as well as works on paper. 

Some people worked from still life items such as leaves, lichen covered sticks, catkins, and daffodils. Some worked from printed out photographs and some worked from imagination - so lots of different approaches to filling our sketchbooks. 

Media used included: brown pen, collage, sparkly nail varnish, gouache, pen and wash, watercolour, graphite, acrylic pens, coloured pencil, and graphite and watercolour. 

Another very exciting sketchbook session, thank you everyone. 

12 February 2025

This week we had a go at making our own side-stitched (or ‘stab stitched’) sketchbooks. We made one with drawing paper (folded paper and with a cover) and one with watercolour paper (single sheets of paper and no cover so as to speak - the top page is the cover). 

We also worked on our saddle stitch books including a beautifully textured book that has been put together with three sets of saddle-stitched papers (two folded papers in each set), and put together by stitching up the spines of each, and then with a stiff cover added by glueing it to the outer pages and adding small bits of fabric to act as ‘hinges’; this book has started to be filled up with colour coordinated abstracted square designs using mixed media. And we also have a marvellous orange saddle stitched book, that may be filled with all things orange!  

One person has started to fill their saddle stitched book with brightly drawn scenes from the south of France, using coloured pencil and fine liner pen. Also we have a very well observed and delicately drawn grouping of daffodils (hard to draw!). And last but not least, experimental textured chimney stacks in pen that have so much life and character to them. 

Thank you everyone, for a really fabulous session, and thank you for working so hard on your sketchbooks!  

29 January 2025

Today we continued with our handmade sketchbooks. Some of us were still in the process of making our books, taking time to contemplate different ideas and approaches whilst playing around with papers, textures, patterns and colours. 

Some of us starting working in our sketchbooks. One sketchbook was created to give as a gift to someone else to make their own artwork in. Another was filled with lively and detailed sketches from a familiar street and is intended as a gift to a family member. 

Another person took the opportunity to explore a brand new set of pens using the theme of chimneys (inspired by a fellow student’s accordion book), experimenting to see what lines, marks, textures, tones and characters the different pens made. 

Someone else took inspiration from the Henry Moore sheep book using his sketches to explore mark making, texture, form and expression. 

Another person experimented with window views from inside the hall using graphite pencil and watercolour to create well observed paintings, full of light, life, and movement.

Someone else looked at the work of the Danish-French artist, Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) and experimented with his figures, creating luminous blue and enlivened figures. And also we have expressive gouache clouds, inspired by another artists’ work. 

Well done, everyone! 

22 January 2025

Today we made saddle stitched sketchbooks. We used a variety of different papers to go inside our sketchbooks including drawing paper, watercolour paper, and found papers including lining paper, wrapping papers, packaging papers, waxed papers - all sorts.

Most sketchbooks were made by folding the paper in half, and stitching the papers down the middle to hold them together. One book though was made using unfolded paper laid flat, with a folded over spine area and saddle stitched from the front of the sketchbook to the back.

Many of the covers were made using Daler Rowney pastel paper (paper that has a slight tooth on it, created for using chalk pastel on). We used book maker’s waxed linen thread, as well as various other threads of neutral and bright colours. People brought in threads and papers to share. Some people even got so far as to start working in their sketchbooks! 

15 January 2025

Welcome back to art class everyone and thank you for your participation this week. Here are a selection of photos from today. 

We had a warm up session where we experimented with drawing and painting from still life objects. We did the warm up exercise to start with where we draw with our non dominant hand using a continuous line and without looking at the paper: this activity really helps to train our eye when looking. It was a fun activity to do our our first day back. And remember that you can do this activity as many times as you like, or just each time to sit down to make artwork, you can do it as a quick warm up. 

A variety of media was used today, pen, graphite pencil, watercolour, water soluble coloured pencils and conte. We also have an abstracted mixed-media pattern sample sheet, a landscape collage made from left over Christmas wrapping paper, and a finished concertina book, which has has been crafted using mixed media including pen, pencil, coloured pencil, watercolour and collage. 

A really wonderful session, thank you all so much for your hard work and enthusiasm. 

18 December 2024

Today, the last session of 2014, we had fun creating group accordion books. We only had an hour to create five books - each person had to create five images (one in each book) and had only 10 minutes per image. But we did it! How talented you all are, I was so impressed. Really well done, everyone! Thank you for a lovely end of year session, with some really lovely food too! And thank you for all your hard work, participation and support over this year. I have sincerely enjoyed every single Wednesday afternoon with you all, you are surely the best art group on earth, I am so lucky.

11 December 2024

4 December 2024

27 November 2024

Today we started exploring making concertina / zigzag books and we will continue for the next couple of weeks so there is plenty of time to be having an experiment with ideas. 

We have a beautiful, tall and elegant sunlit book, drawn with pens and coloured pencil. We have a finished collage book with collage on both sides, experimenting with colour and composition. We have some more of the ‘fishy book’ coming along nicely, the images so far being drawn in pencil and pen. There are some more paintings on paper that will be pasted into a book. There is a rough plan of some geese flying across a landscape, one of a series of preliminary sketches for a book. And some more of the collage that is being made from tiny pieces of papers and fabrics. 

Thank you, everyone, for an absolutely fabulous afternoon! 

20 November 2024

We continued with our handmade artists’ books today using: observed drawing, design, pattern, stencilling, printing, figurative narrative and poetry.

We started a journey through the seasons and went down the garden path. We saw the beginnings of an unfolding cat.

Media used was: graphite pencil, collage, food dye, posca pens, watercolour, sprayed ink, coloured pencil, pen, gouache. This project certainly allows for an opportunity to play with a range of media.

Thank you, everyone for another fabulous afternoon. 

13 November 2024

Hello everyone, we continued with our artists’ books today, by getting down to the part of actually creating artwork in them. People are using different methods. Some are working directly into the books. Some are making their artwork before folding and creating the books (and have worked out a plan for what will be the front and back etc). Some have used existing artwork already on a sheet of paper to create ready made abstract books, and some are going to mount artwork on the pages. Everyone’s books are different and it is such fun to see them all. I didn’t get photos of the insides of everyone’s books, apologies. 

We also have watercolour painting with lovely rhythmic composition and expressive drawings of leaves as well as chalk pastel drawings with great use of composition and colour, and finally a collaged building with the beginnings of a lovely blue sky behind it, which is what we had at the hall today and is very welcome after all the cloud (apologies for the scaffolding making things a bit darker than usual). Thank you everyone for another great afternoon. We will continue with books next week!

6 November 2024

Only a few photos from this week’s session, but you can see the beginnings of our artists’ books and sketchbooks. It was a very focused session as we each wrapped our minds around the making of these books! We will make more next week, as well as begin to fill them! 

23 October 2024

Today we drew and painted jugs, vases, bottles, containers, and vessels. And I feel that this blog post may be the most orderly and serene post within our blog collection. If you are ever feeling like life is getting too much, just come and look at this post, and breathe :) 

We drew and painted from life and from the artist examples. We used watercolour, gouache, inks, salt, acrylic paint on board, graphite pencil and water soluble pencil. The jugs and containers have been carefully observed, resulting in images of such character, liveliness and interest. Each appears to have a story to tell. How amazing you all are. Van Gogh ain't got nothin’ on this. Very beautiful work. 

Well done everyone, and thank you all for a lovely afternoon! 

9 October 2024

We had a really fun session drawing and painting the musical instruments that we had brought in. 

We did observational drawing with graphite and coloured pencils. We also did observational drawing using water-soluble graphite pencils, really effectively showing the highlights and shadows of the brass metal of the cornet. We also did abstracted work on pre-prepared musical sheet paper with acrylic paint and posca pen. A red bugle on a black & white piece of sheet music using chalk pastel created a dramatic piece of artwork, befitting to a bugle. 

Many of the artworks used expressive mark making to suggest sound and movement. We used free and expressive black charcoal and red sepia contes. Watercolour and pen has been used in gestural ways to suggest music sounds and movement. 

And finally we  have a ‘horizon line’ of all the instruments on the tables, drawn in a continuous line with the non-dominant hand and without looking at the paper, with bright ‘musical’ colours added using felt-tip pen. We have expressive use of colour to great effect, again indicating great energy, movement and music. 

Thank you everybody for brining in your beautiful musical instruments, and for really fun session!

18 September 2024

Well done everyone on a really wonderful open studios event yesterday. I really enjoyed it and I hope that you all did too. You all exhibited your work at your tables to such a high standard, I was so impressed! And I really enjoyed seeing some work that I never seen before; you sincerely are all such a talented group of people. And such hard workers, so prolific; really well done on all your hard work, participation, and creativity. 

I hope you all enjoy a good rest now. Ready for next term… 

11 September 2024

Today was the last session of our ‘Own Projects’ and we have definitely gone out with a bang this afternoon. Thank you everyone for all your wonderful artwork and for your energy and enthusiasm. I have really enjoyed seeing your work evolve and progress over the weeks.

4 September 2024

We had an absolutely fabulous time on the canal boat and at Standedge Tunnel today, and inside the beautiful music building also, where the staff were so friendly and inviting. It was all so lovely. Thank you, Jennifer, for the idea and to Mike for the fabulous boat ride opportunity. We will come again! And thank you everyone for making it a really enjoyable afternoon. You all produced such beautiful artwork. Unfortunately Linda B wasn’t there to take good photographs so you will have to put up with mine!

21 August 2024

We were back in the studio this week, carrying on with our ‘Own Projects’. Some of us worked with the word for the month, “Hidden”, creating some unique and unexpected artwork.

Some students responded to the image on this week’s brief (the Carol Douglas exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture park), to explore their own abstracted compositions. I brought the Maudie Lewis book in, “Pictures for Sale”, and there are some artworks based on her work also. Another student was inspired by an artist of her own choosing (Angie Lewis’s flowers). I also brought flowers into the studios and they too were used as a starting point for artwork. A variety of media was used, including: watercolour, ink, stencils, pens, Posca pens, charcoal, gouache, graphite pencil, coloured pencil and watercolour pens.