I had heard so much about West Dean and seized the chance to go there. The course, with Dale Devereux Barker, was brilliant. We started by using resists and stencils on the lino, which was first inked up, and then printed using a press. My favourite effect was obtained by removing the resist or stencil and then printing a second time, so as to get a much more ethereal effect.
Colour, Mark and Composition
I did a weekend course at Hawkwood College, just down the road from me, with Gizella Warburton at the end of October, entitled Colour, Mark and Composition. I didn’t know what to expect, but as I had had to cancel other courses I had booked earlier in the year, I thought it would help me find my creativity again and I liked the look of Gizella’s work. It certainly gave me a new perspective on how to look at things. We started by analyzing the colours within a small strip of a photograph and recreating the strip using scraps of fabric, threads, etc. We did various other exercises along the same vein, printed papers and fabrics, cut everything up to recreate something else. These were my final two pieces, both on a heavy cotton background, which I feel summarise the weekend for me. Much more abstract than I am used to working with, but a lot of food for thought.
Chapter 6 Hard edge applqué
I couldn’t resist adding eyes to the geese and a few reeds as in the original image.
Chapter 5 Developing designs for appliqué – rubbings
I assembled various images of flying birds from my image library.
Chapter 4: Resists and Colour Discharge
I love the subtle effects that paintsticks give and how you can blend colours. In this first example on black paper, some of the paper came away as I removed the masking tape – the lighter areas. The second sample is on black fabric.