Feeling Very Chuffed!

I wrote in my previous post how happy I was to be exhibiting at ChARTres in March 2017 which is a multi arts manifestation in a city which inspired some of my recent work. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in 2016. So yesterday when I opened my emails I could barely believe that  the organisers have invited me to be Guest of Honour for this year. I had to read it several times and even then I had to pinch myself! I have to fill  quite a lot of wall space at Collegiale Saint-Andre and in a very good position as many of the other manifestations take place in this part of the Collegiale, including music and lectures. It's very humbling- a dutch/australian immigrant being guest of Honour at such an event in France- I am still pinching myself! So yet another reason to love France and Chartres that has delivered so much!

Yesterday we had a lot of fun at the Open Drawer Linocutting workshop. We had a person who had only recently been made redundant and had never done anything "arty" to a year 10 student.And what wonderful linocuts were made- none of them choose to do something easy, instead they all stretched- and made wonderful linocuts. Of course not all were interested in the fabric side of things ( coming from paper backgrounds) but they all loved the effects on fabric. I will share some of the work and I apologise I do not remember everyone's name as I do not have the class list.

We always start with a small block for people to get a feel for the tools and try out some ideas and learn what marks the tools can make.
First I  will share Lisa's work ,our young student, who also made two largish linocuts. She worked quietly away and I loved what she did! The first image is her practice block about 10 cm square the other images  were on larger blocks.

 The second block was larger and there is lovely movement in the background of the block. The second block she made really shows strong graphic qualities!

I  do not remember the following students name but her background was paper cutting and she translated those graphic qualities very well into linocuts.

This linocut was by another Lisa who had not done anything arty- I think it's really wonderful effort and like the gradation in the background and the wobble lines which are actually difficult to do!

The following two images are work by Lyndell Green. She chose to actually make her linocut  in the shape of the feather - I love the strong graphic qualities of this linocut. She also brought in a lovely surprise. The travellers' blanket she completed in a previous class- it got lots of oohs and ahhs and is a wonderfully rich  and beautifully embroidered piece- it measures about 140 cm x 95 cm- so lots and lots of work. Thank you Lyndell for bringing it in - it is such a pleasure to see completed work!

I have also forgotten the next students name, but she struggled with arthritic hands which makes  her linocut doubly amazing- it is not easy to do linocutting with hands that won't co-operate. I love the shading  on the fruits.She also chose to cut her lino into a shape which gives a lovely "neat" image and then can be used much more randomly for over all printing.

The following linocut was by Marion who is also an amazing embroiderer. She had in mind this landscape effect, but of course it had to be biggish in order for the contrasting layers to make dynamic impact. I can tell you she did not stop for lunch at all. I love the contrasting layers and can see that stitching will really add lots of dimension and interest.

 And the last image is by Anne Shuttleworth ( a wonderful felt maker  with whom  I did  a class with many years ago) She had been to the Northern Territory and had an encounter with a cycad forest. Cycads are ancient plants that are very slow growing and live a very long time. I love the wonderful abstract qualities of the print on paper and it did not quite come out the same on fabric, though a lighter colour fabric would add more contrast-  and then if you added stitch...

So thank  you everyone for a great effort!

 If you are interested in doing an in the flesh class with me,

I am teaching another class at Open Drawer on 3 February 2017 which is a four hour class, working on Aussie Bush panels and showing you different ways you can stitch and embellish linocut panels with stitch. There are still spaces left if you are interested- just follow the link for Open Drawer.