Open Studio - update

Well - I can honestly say that the last two weeks have passed by in a bit of a blur.

If you saw my last post here,  you will know that we started the Open Studio with a bang on Friday the 5th June with a private view.

But my Dad had died the previous Wednesday,  so I stayed with my comrades for the Saturday but left them to fend for themselves on the Sunday while I went down to Kent to spend a few days with my Mum.

That first Saturday we had a lovely steady stream of people through.  Sunday (when I was not around) it was a sunny day, but no one came until after lunch.

But I was back for last weekend and spent 2 full days here and it was busy busy busy! I cannot believe how many people we had through over the weekend.  Both days the crowds (well that is a bit of an exaggeration) came pretty much when we opened the doors and we had some lovely, lovely people pass through.

So we got the indigo vat up and running again (it's a green bucket!)

I don't really do shibori (I haven't got the patience) but you can have fun with some string!

And I even managed to make a start on a collaboration piece.

Jane had suggested we all chose a few things which we shared with each other.

I chose dictionary pages, some painted tissue and some beads.  Yvonne contributed some puffs and fabric and Jane some sheet music, a stripy paper bag and some pink bubble wrap.

The idea is that working independently we see what we can come up with using these materials.

So I made a start on the background, tearing the dictionary pages and sheet music into rough rectangles and sticking it onto backing paper, adding a few stencilled square shapes using Grunge Paste and then spinkling dry Brusho ink powder on to the background. Spritz this with water and you get a lovely deep colour effect. The ink powders don't quite mix and can stay in some of their constituent parts - that is the coppery effect here.  It is just one of the colours in the blue ink.

This is as far as I got, but it's a lovely background and ready for me to work on (though, if I am honest,  I am struggling a bit with the somewhat random selection of materials!)

We have one last day of the Open Studio (today!!). And then we have to begin to dismantle it!  It has been a bit weird living in an art gallery.  My ever patient house mates have not complained but I think they will be relieved when it gets back to normal.

POST SCRIPT:

I am a wee bit star struck.

Now, dear reader, if you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that I fairly often bang on about a lovely range of paint that I discovered called Fresco Acrylic Paints. I just love them.  I have never used Golden fluid paints so cannot compare, but my guess is that they are similar. In my opinion the Fresco are packed with pigment and I love the colour ranges that they produce. And they are manufactured here in the UK.  I have amassed quite a collection, they are very versatile and they last a long time.

So, how very chuffed was I when Leandra from Paper Artsy, together with Lin Brown (who designs stamps and some paint ranges for them) came to see us on Sunday.  Lovely, lovely people!