The last two weeks have been ridiculously busy trying to finish work for my new on-line workshops starting in January. I have created a page on my blog especially for the on-line workshops I teach and will be updating that further in the next day or so. The Tifaifai class has been written up http://origidij.blogspot.com/p/on-line-workshops.html and is now available for you to register. I have created five new patterns, varying in size and complexity so that the class is suitable for all levels of expertise. I will guide you through all the necessary steps both by way of video and pdf notes with interactivity via a private Facebook group and Zoom. I hope you will join me and try one of my patterns or better still use your own inspiration to create your own design!
I will also be adding a Linocutting and Fabric Printing on-line workshops in the next day or so, which will take you through all the steps of designing for linocut, carving your lino ( or easy cut) printing on fabric, layering with different linocuts to create vignettes and repeat printing.
Lastly I will be runing my on-line Traveller's Blanket class starting 18 December 2020. Christmas and the accompanying holiday period will be very different, and especially at the present time many people will be alone or at least in environments where limited movement outside the house is advisable. There is nothing quite so soothing as stitching, the rhythm calms the mind and creating colourful and beautiful blankets is a good antidote! The Facebook and Zoom sessions allows us to get to know each other a little better and also ask questions which hopefully I will be able to answer. I am going to offer this class at a special price of $50 AUS once only, simply because this has been a tough tough year.
I must admit my mojo had been a bit missing in action until a week or two ago . I did work, but just could not get into a good working routine. Then when finally I did get my work enthusiasm back, my mother had a fall. At first it seemed it was not so bad and she was walking , but as the days progressed so did the pain. I visited her at home and we spoke to the gp by tele conference, but really there was no improvement. So in the end I had her hospitalised ( which she was not very keen about) simply because she is not always the most reliable reporter of symptons and there have been issues with her blood pressure again which is not great for a person who has had a stroke. Fortunately X-rays and Ct scan showed nothing broken so it appears it was deep bruising which affected her ability to walk stably. Hopefully she will be released today which has meant I have had to cook a lot of things for her as she is not really cooking very much anymore. And I will probably need to visit her more frequently but this latest incident has shown that if she continues to live independently she needs some help. I am still working fulltime and it's another three years until I reach retirement age ( though I can't see myself retiring as I love what I do) and I live a 3 hour round trip away from where she lives which makes things hard and my time stretched to the limit. I need space to work as I work from home and though my daughters are now young adults with independent lives- this year has been especially tough and I would like to see them as well. Plus my garden apart from the vegie patches is a bit of a mess simply because I have not had time.
Hopefully some in person teaching will resume in 2021, but I doubt overseas teaching will happen simply because the government has been saying that borders will remain closed for some time and as my own health is a little immunity compromised from the cancer treatment I am not that keen to hop on a plane until they find a reliable vaccine and people are actually vaccinated which I imagine will take some time. So hence all the work to get more on-line teaching ahppening. The next step is to build a proper website- which will be another learning curve!
I hope you will join me in some of my new on-line classes. I have created new content and have basically revised my Tifaifai Renaissance book with different ideas and uses of end product. Like wise the linocutting class will have new content as well.
