A Great Exhibition

Heather - Last of the Summer Wine is a great analogy. Thora Hird's car was wonderful. Loved that series - I have a relative who collects antiques and is always trying to sell you something. Needless to say she is known in the family as Auntie Wainwright.

Magpie - yes, I shall do a step-by step on the icon technique in the June Workshop on the Web. Just for you.

JP - it's so true that only other makers appreciate the work involved in textiles - makes it so difficult to price. As Constance Howard once said 'You don't want it all under the bed at the end of the day'. This does sometimes mean that we'd be better off working in the chip shop than selling our art. Not so smelly though.

Yvette, you don't have to wait - get it from http://www.d4daisy.com/ now, and then join in with the free classes. (Unashamed plug for book, sorry!)

Hi to Robin - how's your weather?

We went to the Alice Kettle exhibition on Saturday - it was great. I've reviewed it for the free bit of March WoW so I won't waffle on too much, but can recommend it. Alice said I could show you a few pics.

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The book above, which was a result of a collaboration between Alice and ceramicist Stephen Dixon, was just too wonderful and gives a whole new slant on concertina books. Every page a gem.

I loved the catalogue - had to buy one as it had such a delicate piece of stitching. A bit of Alice, I thought. Then I left it on the coffee table and someone with a dirty paw trod on it! Grrrr.

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The exhibition is on until March 13 at the Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey, Do try to go.

The mystery of the disappearing video

Gina - Yes, I suspect that we all buy each others' stuff. Good thing, too. Loved the silk painted tie on your blog.

Smudge fights with Mickey - the cat next door, Pascale. Apparently Mickey's ear was in a similar condition and I suspect that Smudge started it, Julie.

Heather - yes, a Jan Beaney is a great thing to have. I have some of my own work on show, too - particularly up the stairs - these icon pieces are among my favourites and I've refused to sell them. Couldn't find the camera so took these with the iphone -not brilliant indoors but they've all been in various books so you'll have seen them before.

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Lovely to have your sister's work Robin. The creative gene runs in the family, then?

Aussie Jo - good to buy undiscovereds - might pick up a masterpiece that way. Much more important though to enjoy the work. Also good to give encouragement by doing this.

Jackie - you are right that we need to make provision for when we leave our wonderful things. Val repeatedly told her daughters that they were not to do anything about her workroom until Jane (Lemon) and I had a look and a sort out (which we did).

Jane, I buy my scrim from Oliver Twists (olivertwistsretail@fsmail.net) or Ario(fiona@ario.co.uk).

Smudge says 'thanks', Becky - he is fully recovered but hasn't been out so much lately so it's frightened him a little. He had a nasty experience yesterday when I gave him a good grooming with a wire brush and accidentally groomed his 'unmentionables'. He spent a lot of time under the table glowering.

Lynn sent me this pic - hope it's Ok to use it? I love your Buddha - one up on mine, I think.



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Had a strange experience with Blogger on Wednesday when I spent ages putting the video up for the free classes. It was avi format which made it very big, but good and sharp. When I looked the next day the whole post had gone! So I had to do it all again, but saved it down to mpeg which was a lot quicker but not so clear. Anyone else had that experience?

This is a pic of the final result which I meant to put with it. The base material is Model Soft/ Hearty Clay - call it what you will.

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I'm going to finish this quickly in case it goes again.

Painting and Gilding

This is a video linked to the free classes on http://www.d4daisy.com/. It does work on a standalone basis as a guide to painting and giding.

I'll be back tomorrow with answers and comments on the previous post.

What's on your Wall?

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This is what I had for Christmas from Fiona – she knows I have a thing about Buddhas. He does look handsome on the mantelpiece. In fact, this view of the fireplace wall had me thinking about how much I value the art on my walls.

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It’s also led me to thinking about how incestuous textile art sales are – we all buy each other’s work. Yvonne Morton sits on the end of the mantle and the piece in the pic above is called Salt Mines 1 by Laura Kelmshall. This is one of Jane Wild’s amazing books displayed as a hanging.

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My Sue Macarthur is a precious piece, purchased when I curated a small exhibition for the K&S some years ago.

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This wonderful Gwen Hedley work, Metal Plate 1 (below), is inspired, as the title suggests, by a photograph of a rusty plate and the making of it is described in the free taster issue of Workshop on the Web http://www.workshopontheweb.com/. I borrowed it for an exhibition and couldn’t part with it.

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Here's Yvonne again - and do you like my new curtains?
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It’s a good thing that Clive is as keen as I am or I might feel guilty about spending the money!

I think we should all show what we have on our walls on our blogs – like an open house exhibition.

Ear’s a sad story

Came down from the office this morning to find a trail of Smudge – like this.....
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........ and this
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...then this – a torn ear and a sad cat. Fighting again.

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You might think that this is red-eye from the flash but I know it is a burning desire for revenge.



On the other hand perhaps building up strength might be a better strategy.


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He seems to have recovered after having his wounds dressed and spending the afternoon on the bed.

Many Thanks

I've finished my article - and I'm so grateful for all your help. It was surprising how many of your favourites were mine, too. In the end, the article was so long that I've had to split it into two - free stuff and that which has to be paid for. I put all the names in the hat and came up with Max the Lobster - such a great name. So if you email your postal address to maggie@workshopontheweb.com I'll send you a little something.

I've had a couple of days off, and have had such fun with Sherrill Kahn's new video - we always swap books. The way she uses a sponge has me vowing that I'll never use a brush again and she is so brave with her demos. She just lets it all happen and if anything goes wrong she immediately converts it into something wonderful. Here are a couple of shots - not brilliant photos as I clicked at the TV, rather than screenshotting on the laptop.

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Here's a result - Sherril covers the making of collages as well as preparing the papers. We'll do a proper review in the March Workshop on the Web. http://www.workshopontheweb.com/

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I've also been playing with Model Magic (like Hearty clay) for my next free workshop on the d4daisy site. This is a top layer looking for a colourful base.

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My new rug arrived and looks great - Smudge keeps posing on it and tunnelling under it when not observed.