Monday 29 April 2013

Where to start?

You probably havn't noticed much difference as the gaps are pulling out between my postings here, but we have been away on the first of this year's holidays.  (Oops, that's a lie, we went to Cardiff, didn't we?).  

We've just got back from our favourite place, St Ives, and as usual had a fabulous time, meeting up with old and new friends, visiting gardens and galleries and getting slightly crafty.  So, where to begin?  Since this is supposed to be a creative blog I think I'll start there first.

Last year, as you may remember, I did a day's workshop with Dionne Swift at the Festival of Quilts on Developping Sketchbooks.  Dionne also offers this workshop online with the ability to have access to the videos and Facebook group for 2 weeks so I decided to 'repeat' the experience but with much more time to devote to it.  I started watching the videos before we went away and carried on with the course while we were in St Ives.





You can probably guess the theme of the sketchbook but I have to say that it was a really good decision to work the course again.  Dionne's videos are always concise and encouraging and there is a clear path moving through the procedures for building the sketchbook which can be used with any future theme you may care to choose.  My head is still full of ideas and possibilities for future work with circles and I have enough pages to make two sketchbooks and probably more on this theme.  It was lovely to have the extra time to play and the more I played the more ideas came to me.  Equally the Facebook page set up for all the participants to interact if they wished was invaluable.  It was great to see some of the work others were doing and to get feedback both from Dionne, who was tireless in her support, and from the group.  

I've made a start on a new book on a new theme and I'm hopeful that this time I will keep up the good work.

The crafting theme continued while I was away with a fused glass taster session with Terri Bunn in St Ives.  It was lovely to share this with my very dear friend Carolyn Saxby and a new friend, Margaret Garrood.


Margaret and Carolyn in Terri's studio.
 

This is the lovely Terri  showing us some of her work.


 I think you could say it was a bit of a breezy day.


This is Carolyn and I with the finished product.
 
And the lovely Margaret with her fabulous knobbly coaster.  The knobbly blobs were accidental but Carolyn and I loved them, very tactile!


Above, my coaster with spirals which are just visible.



Margaret gave me this lovely gift of fabrics (dyed by her), sari silk, buttons and a card holder.

As you might expect DH and I took many, many photographs while we were away, despite having taken 1000's already so there'll be more to come in a future post.   I will leave you with one or two to whet your appetite.


The intrepid photographer!
 

The view from our rental.


St Ives in a foggy mood.
 

And finally, an exceptionally low tide.

19 comments:

Su said...

Beautiful coasters, I love fused glass. Looks like the whole holiday was a great success ;-)

Clare Wassermann said...

I envy you but I'm staying near Praa sands in half term so there will be a visit to SI - long overdue x

Gina said...

What a lovely sounding holiday.

The Crafty Mugwump said...

Good to see you at Bobby's book party this evening.
Love those Kandinsky circles in your sketchbook pages. I could quite happily make Dionne Swift style sketchbooks all the time. I think I now need a course in converting them to stitch.

Living to work - working to live said...

A friend has signed up for Dionne's class later in the year and I must admit I am tempted. Those sketchbooks look so lovely.

sharon young said...

A great start to your class, Julie, looks as if you had a fabulous time in St Ives too.

ju-north said...

Looks wonderful from start to finish! I can see you living there one day!

Diane Kelsey said...

A lovely holiday. Thank you for the link for the sketchbook workshop, I will have to have a look later. Glad to hear that Margaret is making new friends and having crafty fun.

Amanda said...

Lovely photos there! And your Bloggers list is gaining quite a few notches now! Nice to see the creative community in the UK meshing.

Heather said...

What a fantastic post Julie. I feel as if I have been on holiday too with the beautiful views and so much inspiring art work. I am hoping that life will slow down for me and I will get more work/play time by the middle of May. Ever optimistic!

pam said...

Your favorite place - sounds like you had a wonderful time and the photos make me want to visit. Thanks for sharing all your experiences with us - the coaster is great.

Margaret Garrood said...

It was lovely to meet you Julie and to see Carolyn again. I really enjoyed the workshop- the coasters turned out really well didn't they. The weather has improved in St Ives this week!!!!
I look forward to meeting up again when everyone is in St Ives again. xxx

Peneller said...

Lovely to meet up with you and Stewart and see your sketchbook work. Weren't we lucky with the weather! I'm so glad you enjoyed your holiday.

Evelyn ~ Indigo Beach Art said...

Looks like you had a wonderfully creative time in St. Ives. Carolyn showed me her coaster ~ it's nice to see yours and Margaret's too! I like your circle sketchbook images too ... I am still working slowly on my sketchbooks ~ but I will blog about them sometime in the future!

Anonymous said...

Fab fun. Nice to see you with your friends. Glad Carolyn is posting again, we missed her....Be curious to see what you get up to with fiber from your sketchbook ideas! xox

Maggi said...

Lovely to see more of what you did in Dionne's class. See you ing the next one.
Your glass coaster is so nice, a sea of bubbles, quite appropriate considering where you wee. Glad you had such a lovely time.

Angela said...

Brilliant photos Julie. Maybe I should check out Dionne's workshop I really struggle with sketchbook work. I'm beginning to think that maybe I start with the wrong approach when it comes to working in them.

Emma said...

Your glass is lovely - I hadn't seen the spirals on the fb pic. Wonderful sb work, great to see the different work that you & Maggi produce even tho doing the same course.Looking forward to more pics :)

Anonymous said...

Julie
Thank you for your lovely commentary about my workshops :-)
So jealous of your time in St Ives - but you know that already!! :-)
best
Dionne Swift x