Tour to Italy

Part of the last year has involved reinventing what i do to some extent, especially as i have been unable to find any sort of permanent employment. So it has involved quite some planning and crossing of fingers and hoping that the economic situation will turn around to some extent- and trying to come up with some saleable products as well  as continuing with my arts practice.I have been lucky to have exhibited work three times this year but unfortunately that  brought only minor sales. I have created new linocuts, but they only seem to sell when people can actually see the worked up samples in the flesh- and the internet isn't the best avenue for seeing what they actually look like.Part of my  ideas for the future is to lead tours to a range of places and I am happy to say that a tour to France is planned for April 2013. The itinerary will not be substantially different to the tour we did this year but we have tweaked it a little, and added a day in Lyon as I love that city. If you would like information on the French Tour please email me.

We have also added a Tour to Italy- as I am in Europe in any case for the French Tour. The tour starts in Venice, where we will spend three days and then lopes around northern Italy and the lakes areas and all sorts of wonderful pallazo's, gardens and art off the beaten track to some extent and ends with some days in the  sun on the Italian Riviera. This tour will commence in May and I already have some interested takers from my previous French tour. Again email me if you would like further information on the Italian Tour.

Next month i will travel to Europe - firstly to demonstrate at the Abilmente Fair in Vicenza ( Italy ) from 18-21 October and then to teach in France and the Netherlands. I will provide details of the workshops I will be teaching, as I am still finalising the actual workshops. If you are interested in my coming to teach  in France or the Netherlands, or Belgium or Italy- it is possible as I have a few gaps .I could not get a flight home until 18 November on my frequent flyer program because the airline company decided to have a three day sale just as I was trying to book my rewards flight and flights were disappearing at a rate of knots.So if you are interested in my teaching please email me!

I have been preparing some samples for Vicenza- but am still waiting for threads as that is part of the demo- so I can only run up limited amounts at the moment. I have been playing with the poppy theme and find the water colour effect you get on Evolon, quite  interesting. I think the sample below needs more stitching but I haven't quite decided what. The first photo is the beginning of the stitching and the second photo with more stitching.

I have also been hand stitching some small traveller blanket inspired pieces. I want to make another but do you think I can find the fabric? It was in my hands last week and now has  disappeared and my workspace isn't in too bad a state at the moment.