This picture started as a simple demonstration piece during a recent workshop, the terracotta pot being made with a basic funky foam stamp and the geranium flowers created with bubble wrap. I find that I often use bubble wrap for printing, usually the smaller size but I have used the big bubbles too. It seems … More Geranium Pot
This is the whole spread of my sea lavender design that I made after spending a super workshop day with Vinny Stapley at East Mersea. I was really inspired by the coastal flora there and still have ideas based on the sea holly and sea purslane that I sketched while sitting on the beach. I … More Sea Lavender – Textile Translation
On July 25th, officially the hottest day ever recorded in Britain, I went on a Saltmarsh Safari with Vinny Stapley at East Mersea. We tried to get out to the saltmarsh early to avoid the intense heat, but in fact there was a wonderful breeze and we had a lovely time as Vinny showed us … More Sea Lavender
I have just spent a week on the North Norfolk coast, using the time to walk and sketch. At the beginning of the week I purchased a small sketchbook – postcard size – and endeavoured to fill it while I was there, making my focus the beach at Cromer. There is nothing remarkable about this … More East Beach, Cromer
Last week I was lucky enough to visit the wonderful Palacio da Pena in Sintra, Portugal. There was so much to see and admire and I took lots of photographs, mainly of the beautiful tiles that adorn the palace walls. I wanted to make a quick record of the visit and not simply keep a … More Sintra: Palacio da Pena
The poppy Patty’s Plum in our garden is nearly over, the recent rain turning the edges brown – soon the petals will drop. Looking at the grey sky I thought I would try to capture them while they are still holding on – literally a five minute window before the rain. I used Caran D’Ache … More Five Minute Sketch
I have been trying out another resist technique recently, using flour paste as the resist medium. There is information available in books about this idea but detailed below is my method, which differs in some ways from the versions I have read about. I remember doing something like this as a primary school teacher when … More Flour Paste Resist
I’ve been preparing some Tyvek samples for an upcoming workshop and thought I would use the photograph above as inspiration. This was taken on the coast path, just outside Coverack, where unusually we were close to the sea at the aptly named Lowland Point. It wasn’t a sunny day and the colours were very muted … More Fiddling Around With Tyvek
I have had fun during the last couple of days making some cards to sell at the upcoming Art Of The Needle exhibition in Hadleigh. I don’t often make cards, usually only at Christmas or when I need to put some items on a sales table, but I have thoroughly enjoyed making these. Two large … More Oranges and Lemons
