FREE workshop - Reconnect with Your Creativity
I am really excited to be offering a FREE workshop at Beach Lane's fabulous upcoming Autumn Festival!
Participants will have the opportunity to ignite their creativity and enhance their drawing skills through a series of fun drawing activities designed to inspire their spirit of play and promote mindfulness. It's suitable for everyone, wherever they are on their creative journey and no matter what their level of drawing skills.
This workshop will offer a great taster to some exciting new workshops I will be offering in coming months, "Creating Space": a place to nurture and grow your creativity through connecting to others, developing skills, understanding your own personal creative journey and mastering ways to enhance your creativity and break through the blocks!
For more info about my free autumn festival workshop please follow the link below.
Mornington Market
It was so great to be back at the markets again this weekend! I really love being on my stall, showing off my work and chatting to all the lovely folk who stop by.
My Lovely Dad is over here visiting from Scotland right now and it was fabulous to have him manning my stall with me.
A few new designs were appearing on my stall for the first time, including the very popular Yoga Pose series (pictured below on my display amongst some old favourites)
There was lots of interest this week in my Melbourne City Sketches.
These artworks start life as sketches done in the laneways of Melbourne and my other favourite places around the city. I then work these into mixed media collage drawings, incorporating thread drawing and fabric on paper.
At the moment the City Sketch Collection is available as art prints (some designs). As with my other thread sketches these come framed or unframed.
I will have a full range of my original individually handmade Melbourne City Sketches available in time for my next market at Flemington in April.
Hope to see you there!
New designs - sneak preview!
I've been frantically drawing, designing, stitching, framing and planning away and finally have enough little thread sketches to have a another market stall...yaay!
There will be several new designs that I've been dying to make for ages, including "Patchwork Passion" (above).
Along with some old favourites...
I will be back at Mornington Racecourse market on Sunday 13th march 9am-2pm. I really loved this market when I had a stall there leading up to Christmas and can't wait to be back. Please do come and chat to me. I'll be there with my lovely Dad, who's visiting from Scotland and can't wait to have his first ever experience running a market stall in Australia!
Click here for more info
Happy New Year!
....slightly belated but at least I got in before the end of January!
So! I have been very very busy...
swimming, walking and generally lazing on this beautiful beach in the amazing Cape Conran,
becoming acquainted with the lovely inhabitants of the area,
and reading some fabulous books including this one which I absolutely loved. I found it fascinating and incredibly moving. It has stayed with me and I am still haunted by it, weeks after I finished it.
Then I got back and met up with a great group of extremely creative kids at Kingston Arts Centre for a fabulously fun "Artist for a Day" whole day summer workshop!
We had Drawing Races, made a wonderful mixed media Magic Beach Frieze, learnt and developed our Observational Drawing Skills, explored sand as a sculptural medium, using different sand blend recipes, made sculptures using wire and finished off putting it all together by creating our own Miniature Fairy Beach gardens! Phew! Unfortunately as so often happens in my workshops we are so busy making, doing, creating, chatting, singing, playing the piano and doing cartwheels (yes, really!) that I totally forget to take photos :-/
Thanks again to Kingston Arts for providing such a wonderful venue at the Shirley Burke Theatre in Parkdale and BIG THANKS to all who came and made it such a fabulous day. I will be posting the recipes for the sand clay we used and also for making your very own "kinetic" sand mixture over the next few days.
Today I finally got back into my studio and back to my work! yay! I was working on the initial designs for a large commission. It's a thread and fabric life drawing, working title "Cat Lady". I'm so excited about this one for many reasons, not least the fact that I am a great lover of cats myself! Pictured here is the first of a series of thread sketches for it that will help me work out my larger design.
Thats all for now! :-)
The Story Behind the Thread Sketches
It all started with a princess and a pea...
Well, in truth it started a while before that. A close friend had shown me how it was possible to draw with the sewing machine using freestyle embroidery and I'd quickly come to love turning my life drawings into thread drawings on calico and linen. One of the first was Ms Stripey Socks....
...with her needle felted rainbow socks and sketchy thread drawn pose of wanton self love she quickly became a firm favourite amongst my close circle of women. Within a few years she was surrounded by a gallery full of expressive thread women in my very first solo exhibition at Kingston Arts Centre - "Fabric of Life"
But how does The Princess and the Pea come into it? Well, one day I was making this quite large Princess and the Pea textile piece (because I love that fairy tale and I just couldn't resist all those mattresses) but in order to make the large one I had to first make a small one as a mock up, or a prototype, or in sculpture we'd call it a maquette, anyway whatever we call it it's a small version, sketchy and quicker to execute and its purpose is to work out the design before launching into the big one and wasting all your fabrics by getting it all wrong. Once I'd done the small Princess and the Pea I started thinking it would be nice to make thread sketches of more of my larger designs, but even smaller and frame them so that they are nice little affordable art pieces.
And that's how the Thread Sketch Collection came to be.
January 2016 Holiday Kids Art Fun at Kingston Arts
Kids! Come along to the Creative Lounge and be an Artist for a Day
Please join me for a whole day of creative fun as we explore our summer theme Sun, Sea, Sand
You will learn some fabulous arty skills, get inspired and maybe make some new friends. I will be there to help and guide you in whatever amazing direction your inspiration takes you.
There will be games, fun activities, drawing, new materials and techniques to try out and.....sculpture!
Click on the link below for more info and to book
Market Update
What a crazy weekend of markets its been! Mornington Racecourse Twilight Market on Saturday and Portsea market on Sunday. Its taken me three days to recover!
Mornington Market was extremely busy with Christmas shoppers and happy browsers and I so loved chatting to all the lovely people who stopped by my stall. It's the thing I'm loving the most about markets - sharing all my pieces and their stories with people who visit. Everyone makes their own personal connection to the artworks and I just love that interaction. It was so busy I was worried I wouldn't have any stock left for Portsea market the next day!
Portsea Market had a lovely chilled Sunday morning atmosphere. What a spectacular location in the Point Nepean National Park. Massive thanks to my trusty assistants for the weekend, Lorna and Judy - I just couldn't have managed without you . Thank you!
Next Market coming up is this very Friday evening! You can find me at Moonflower Market in the St KildaTown Hall Gardens. I'm really excited about this one! Its going to be a beautiful balmy summers evening. There will be live music, dj's, delicious street food and lots of fabulous stalls. I'll be there with my Thread Sketches and this time I'm sharing a stall with two fabulous women and their wares.....
Robbie with her very beautiful and luxurious Best Friend Body Butters http://www.bestfriendbodybutter.com.au/
and Bella with vintage clothing http://www.clothe.net.au/
More info on the evening below. Hope to see you there!
Christmas Markets
I so enjoyed my first market experience at Flemington Racecourse Twilight two weekends ago. I learned heaps about setting up and running my market stall especially from all my lovely customers. It was so great chatting to everyone about my work and having that personal interaction as they chose pieces for themselves or as special gifts - that's a real bonus of selling your artwork at the markets and something you don't get to do so much of when exhibiting in galleries.
One of the things I learned was that even though I personally don't really like to get into the spirit of Christmas before December, there are plenty of well organised people who do and the market was packed with Christmas shoppers having a lovely day out choosing really special personal gifts, all handmade by local arts and craft people. What a lovely way to show your people you care while supporting the community and local makers.
I cant wait to share my "Market Christmas Special" with everyone this Saturday 28th Nov at Mornington Racecourse Twilight market 3-8 pm and again on Sunday 29th at Portsea Point Nepean Markets. I just love the idea that one of my little thread artworks will be opened by someone on Christmas Day and treasured as a special gift from a loved one.
Melbourne Inside Out
I've been creating these little thread and collaged mixed media drawings of Melbourne
Since arriving to live in Melbourne 11 years ago I have been madly in love with this city's vibrant bustling gorgeously atmospheric lane ways. These places really seem to capture everything I love about Melbourne.
I have long been enjoying exploring these atmospheric hives of eating, drinking and socialising activity, and more recently have gone exploring with my sketchbook.
There are a few challenges to drawing in Melbourne's Lane ways.
The first is of course how to avoid drinking too many coffees or eating one too many of Shandong Mama's delicious dumplings (while still eating and drinking enough to assuage any guilt you might feel about hogging a precious table to sit and draw for hours)
The second is how to make sense of the total sensory overload that's going on when you are seated immersed in the middle of this chaos of alive pulsating human activity - enough sense to get what is essential down on paper, which is, to my mind, what a sketch is.
I find the strong vertical, horizontal and diagonals of the architecture and furniture essential anchor points that totally contain the writhing life that is momentarily held within these spaces.
In the lanes we are outside but the sensation is of being within, totally immersed in the city - hence inside out
Then there are the splashes of vibrant lit up colour contrasting sharply with the shabby dark brickwork and deliciously grungy walls.
And then there are the people: the pulsing life force that constantly move and change and bring their lives into the lane and sometimes sit or just pass through.
I've been taking my Melbourne Inside Out sketches and turning them into little mixed media thread sketches. Lots of collaging, stitching, applying whatever materials come to hand. Fun :)
You can find my Melbourne City Sketches in my website shop or in person at my market stalls
First Market!
I had my very first market stall yesterday at Flemington Racecourse Twilight Market and what a lovely experience it was!
Andy (pictured below hiding amongst the flowers and pictures) helped me by serenading my lovely customers with his ukulele rendition of jingle bell rock and other classics...
"The Princess and the Pea" was a popular girl
Many many thanks to all my lovely customers who bought, browsed and chatted. It was lovely to meet you all and thank you for your lovely feedback and comments on my artwork. It was so great to have the opportunity to share and talk about my work in person!
Looking forward to my next market already!
Off to Market!
It's felt like a bit of an epic journey to get to this stage but I am very excited to announce that I will be launching my very first market stall this coming Saturday 14th November at Flemington Racecourse Twilight Market 3-8pm!
If you are in the area please do drop by my stall to say hello and check out my freshly completed and lovingly framed thread sketches, Melbourne city sketches and my brand new range of greetings cards.
Don't worry if you can't make this one though. I'll be at Mornington Racecourse Twilight Market on Saturday 28th November and Portsea Market on the 29th.
Welcome to My New Blog
Hi and welcome to my new blog!
I have been blogging (albeit a little..ahem...infrequently at times) over on blogspot for a few years but now that I have set up and launched my sparkly new website here is where all the blogging is going to happen from now on and hopefully with a lot more frequency than before...but, as with the laundry, I'm not making any promises...
I am an artist, a mother, a Scottish Australian Woman. I love to chat and I hate housework. I studied Fine Art (sculpture) a while ago now and for the last 8 years or so have been creating and exhibiting my artwork in and around Melbourne. I'm passionate about drawing and much of my recent work is textile, incorporating thread drawing to which I openly confess I am addicted. I also love to share my passion for creativity with others and do so through some special connections with the crafty creative women in my life and through running regular school holiday programs for kids.
This Blog is where you will read all about:
My latest work
Current and upcoming exhibitions
Market stall dates
Kids Creative Art Programs
Any other relevant news
Please feel free to leave me any feedback, comments or questions. Thanks!