Lino and doublers

It's all official, my course has made it into the Art Centre's autumn brochure! To book call Newcastle Arts Centre on 0191 2615618 and we'll look forward to seeing you in December.

I'm busy planning and plotting what we'll do and doing plenty of visual research so I'll have loads of images laid out to inspire the class. Here's a couple to get the creative juices flowing.

Buttercups and Daisies linocut by Helen Roddie

Happiness on the underground linocut by Pedro Demetriou

The workshop will be relaxed and fun, so don't worry if you've never done a linocut before there will be plenty of help and time. It can be a simple or as complicated as you like. Once we get printing you can print on almost any surface and I will bring in some interesting papers for you to try.

As well as printing I've also been enjoying making wet felted flowers that I have then made into brooches. I was really pleased that I managed to teach myself how to make double petals too! All brooches are hand stitched and beaded and will be on sale in the Craftshop very soon. 

Some of the brooches are inspired by the ever changing sky in Scotland that we watched every day from our holiday cottage in Ardnamurchan. A couple are my take on hot house flowers in the exotic section at Kew gardens, with their layered petals and interestingly shaped petals. Others, well you'll just have to pop into the shop and read the back of the card to find what inspired them.

Currently reading: Sonic Wonderland by Trevor Cox (all about sounds and science)

What I'm up to at the minute: still working on my art journal when I get time and designing linocuts.

Fuzzy felt and hot wax

Oh it's been all go in the Ballistic Owl studio since my last blog post! I approached the Craft shop at Newcastle Arts Centre to see if they would consider taking some of my work and they said yes :-) big smiles all round. 

So I've had all my felting things out and have been producing some gorgeous brooches, cuffs and necklaces for the shop. It's been great fun and I've loved sitting stitching, inventing new designs and finding my collection of beads and bits. Each brooch is unique and although I may use the same shape the finished product is different. They will make a great gift for a loved one or a fabulous treat for yourself, pop in store and take a look at the whole range.

This weekend I was really pleased to have the opportunity to go on a Batik course with the lovely Heather Gatt, who is a highly recognised artist and lives in the wonderful Whitby. Heather's course was great as she started us off with a demo of how we could use all the tools and how to set up our frames and also an alternative way to use the wax resist for a more painterly image. After a busy week in the art shop this was a fantastic was to unwind and get messy!

 This one and the one below were made using wire shapes and the canting pen. The top piece I decided to crackle to produce the fine veining.

This next one was done using the more painterly method of drawing onto the cotton and then building the colour layers up one at a time, blocking each colour off with wax as you went along. I really liked this technique and enjoyed making my echinacea, although now I've removed all the wax I would have preferred my background to have been a little darker.

 Heather also had lots of stamps and I loved this delicate rose one. It was made of tiny metal wires and similar to a printing block. It took some practise to get it to leave the right amount of wax behind, but in a way I liked the imperfect ones too.

 First attempt with the stamp above and several goes later below. I might now stitch into the not so good ones and see what I can make with them.

So what fun I've had and guess what's going to be on my Christmas list this year :-)

Reading- Still making my way through "S" which is like 3 books in one. Also making a start on Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.