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.

More Fibre Creations

Several posts ago I wrote about making fibre creations using Solvy and stitching.
Here are my two latest. The first one is yarns and merino fibre fairly densely packed. The second one has eyelash yarn , pieces of satin ribbon and whisps of merino fibre. the structure is much less dense and more open but the stitching still holds it all together

More Island Dreams

Starfish silk painting



I mentioned the Isles of Scilly in the previous post. They are an archepelago of islands about 28 miles from Land's End, Cornwall, UK. There are five inhabited islands and numerous uninhabited ones.
The 2 photos below were taken from the helicopter that ferries passengers to and from the mainland.

Island Dreams

ISLAND DREAMS 1 and 2 oil pastel on mount board

Both these paintings were inspired by the Isles of Scilly looking from Tresco towards the Eastern Isles. The Eastern Isles are small and inhabited by seals and birds. The sand is almost white and on a sunny day the clear waters are the most amazing blues and aquamarines and the sparkle on the water intense. The mount board I used had a slight texture that helped make the sparkle. I use Caran d'ache and Daler Rowney oil pastels. They are not as hard as some oil pastels. I like it that they become softer while working as I like to blend the colours on the board.

Wakehurst Place Sun March 14th

Wakehurst Place is Kew's country garden. It is a country estate in West Sussex with ornamental gardens, woodlands and an Elizabethan Mansion. Near the house there is a walled garden and a winter garden. The winter garden is one of my favourites as there is always something in flower throughout the winter and there is colour and contrasts from barks and foliage.

This eucalyptus has interesting patterning caused by strips of bark being shed.

Iris reticulata

At last some daffodils! They are so late this year. Today is Mothering Sunday and lots of mums will have been given bunches of daffodils and the gardens are busier than I have ever seen them.

The land slopes steeply away and paths follow a stream that winds down to the woods. At this time of year the banks are covered with spring flowers.

There is a rocky outcrop that makes a good viewpoint looking down over the lake and more woodland. I have seen pheasants, finches, nuthatches and tits here as there are some bird feeders.

The land sloping down towards the lake is quite damp and here I spotted these wild primroses..

They are only just beginning to come into flower but soon will carpet this area

There is also The Millenium Seed Bank

Spring Flowers

These are some of the spring flowers from my garden and from local dog walks. Snowdrops, crocuses and winter iris.

Pretty in Pastels

My etsy treasury, Pretty in Pastels some of my favourites