Conquest Art

On Wednesday I did a talk and demonstration on silk painting for a group of people who are tutors for Conquest Art classes.
Conquest Art runs art classes for people with physical disabilities, including people who are recovering from strokes, suffering from MS or visually impaired and even blind.
It is a charity that was founded in 1978 by Ursula Hulme MBE aiming to inspire inner vision, uplift spirits and revive confidence and classes are run by volunteers trained in her methods and techniques.
Many of the classes are in the South East of England and the group hopes to set up more around the country. They also offer training for occupational therapists and activities organisers in resource centres, nursing and residential homes.

We talked about materials and kit needed for silk painting and ideas for using with the groups.
One of the things I did was a demo of an easy way to paint a silk scarf that can be done by beginners and does not require pins and a frame.
The scarf was dampened then layed flat on a piece of polythene. It had silk paint applied with a brush, it had silk paint squirted at it straight from the bottle, it had doodles done on it with silk paint marker pens and it was sprinkled lightly with salt! As it dried the salt drew out some lovely patterns, it doesn't always work that well with iron fix paints so I was delighted that it obliged. When dry it had some more doodles added. With a bit of ironing it will be ready to wear and I think is destined for a fund raising sale. I wish I had taken a photo of it to show you.
I also showed about painting silk on an embroidery frame using gutta so that more precise shapes can be achieved.
I enjoyed sharing with this lovely responsive group.
At the top is the lovely bouquet that they generously presented me with.