Autumn Winter 2018 Workshops

I have had the most amazing Summer with lots of art adventures, teaching and exhibiting at home in the UK  and away in other lovely places. 

I have been feeling so bad about neglecting my blog while I have been away but I am back to start a new term and a new Autumn season of workshops.

I have got lots of exciting news about things that are happening in the next year. I'd love it if you'd join me on some of the adventures and travels that are coming up soon.

For now here is my new poster for workshops in Chesham in Bucks at Workaid. They are booking now. If you would like to join me in learning all kinds of wonderful art techniques let me know.

New Year, New Workshops!

Happy New Year 2018!

For all of us this year I hope we are blessed with love, friendship and good health! 

I hope that this year will allow you and your dreams to fly! To the stars! 

We have some amazing life and art adventures waiting for us. Share mine with me. Happy New Year to you all.

Letting Go!

Yesterday was the last day of a couple of 10 week Art Journalling Courses.  And nobody wanted it to end!

For most of the people who attended the sessions they have been a golden moment in a stressful week of caring for others much more than they have had time to care for themselves. Spending those golden moments being creative and learning ways to make beautiful art changes lives!

So when the courses ended, there were such mixed feelings: Joy for having been there and sadness that the weekly fix of making art in a safe, supportive cocoon has ended for the moment. It can be so difficult to let go.

But they are all ready to fly! Really firm friendships have been made that will last forever, skills have been learned and talents found that many of them couldn't have dreamed of. Their Journals are exquisite, and very, very precious.

So fly my friends! You haven't really had to let go. All the support is still there for you. And we will be making Art together again really soon.

This little sketch was made with Derwent Inktense pencil in Chinese Ink and a fine black pen. 

A workshop update

This is a quick little update on the upcoming workshops at Workaid Chesham and St Joseph's Boxmoor. 

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to publicise these. I have been working on all kinds of  new things and will have some exciting news to reveal soon.

Firstly the Workaid Workshops for 2017 and 2018. There are photos of these workshops further down on this blog.

13th and 14^th October 2017

Altered Books

10am -3.30

A 2 day workshop on making Altered Books.

£150

25^th November 2017

Fabric Books

10am -3.30

A 1 day workshop on painted and embroidered

 fabric books

£65

27^thJanuary 2018

The Art of Whimsical Illustration

10am -3.30

A 1 day workshop on drawing, colouring and

 layering illustrations

£65

24^th February 2018

A Mixed Media Canvas

10am -3.30

A 1 day workshop using a variety of specialist

 materials and mixed

 media techniques to make a textured and layered canvas picture.

£65

24^th March 2018

Folk Art Embroidered Hearts

10am-3.30

A 1 day workshop of Folk Art inspired hand

 embroidery on vintage  wool blankets using

 vintage found objects

£65

28^th April 2018

Scrap Stitching and Embroidery

10am -3.30

A 1 day workshop using precious scraps of silk

 and vintage fabrics  with hand embroidery and

 found objects.

£65

30^th June 2018

A Folk Art Painted Chair

10am-3.30

A one day workshop using hand painting and

 stencilling to 

decorate a small wooden chair. You will need to

 supply a chair or I  may be able to source a small 

 Ercol school chair  for you at an extra cost.

£65

Workaid, 71 Townsend Road, Chesham, Bucks,

 HP5 2AA

The Boxmoor Art Journalling Workshops are at St

Joseph's Hall,

 Horsecroft Road, Hemel Hempstead HP1 1NR

A very short 5 minute walk from Hemel 

Hempstead Station on the line from Euston.

Each 3 hour workshop will build on the skills 

learned previously to 

make up a very varied and comprehensive mixed

media course.

The sessions will be relaxed and fun and the

 techniques will be simple to achieve.

You will be amazed at the beautiful pages you will

 make. You will need to bring an A5 or small 

6"x6"square journal to  use.

I can provide one for £4 if you let me know in

advance.

Session times may vary so please check the times

of each workshop.

£35 per session.

21^st October 2017

12pm -3pm

Starting right at the beginning of this course on

Art Journalling, 

we will learn how to apply paint and decorate the

surface of our pages using stencils. 

We will be painting the pages for using at the next

session to make 'Waterfall Pages'

18^th November 2017

2pm- 5pm

At this session we will be using the pages we

decorated at the last session to make 

'Waterfall Pages' We will learn to

use punches to enhance our pages and embellish

 them with drawing techniques.

9^th December 2017

12pm-3pm

At this session we will explore the use of die

cutting, layering and painting to make a textured

 collage.

A House of Secrets, waiting to be told...

There are some days in our lives that start in a very ordinary way and end with an experience which you know you will never forget.

Today was one of those days...

I was invited by my friend Jo to visit Di, her friend, and to see her house. She told me that Di has an amazing story to tell and a very unusual secret to show me.

Di is nearing her 70th birthday and lives alone in an ordinary council house in a part of town with lots of similar looking houses but as I stepped through the door, what I saw was certainly not like any other house I've seen! Every wall and every ceiling was decorated with paintings.

The paintings blend over the walls and ceilings seamlessly and are full of colour and detail.

These oil paintings have been many years in the making. The paint has mostly been applied with her fingers. Many of the scenes have been painted over and altered as the years have passed and will continue to be added to as time goes by.

Hardly anyone has seen them. They have remained her secret life's work and her solace. But now she would like to share them and to have her life story told.

The scenes are of subjects that give her comfort; Faith, Nature, Birds and Animals. All are done freehand and from memory. The more I looked, the more details I saw; the shadows on the horses bodies, the way the sun shines through the trees, the tiny animals and birds in the distance.

Di's life story is even more astonishing than her paintings. I only know very little. 

But she has a story to tell the world. Hopefully a world which is more enlightened than the one she has experienced almost since the day she was born. A story of tragedy but perhaps with its own kind of peace now.

And yet her spirit shines out through her lovely paintings. A peaceful world which she has created for herself at last, in her home, where she feels safe and can be her true self.

Jo is going to document Di's story and her artwork through photographs and try to make the world aware of this talented lady. I am going to help if I can.

Thank you for sharing a little bit with me. I know I will be thinking about it all for a very long time.

As an update to this story, Di's house will be shown at 6pm on the BBC London News on Wednesday 8th November 2017. I'm so looking forward to her story being seen.

This is the link. It starts at the 5 minute mark.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-london-41857415

We are all Artists

Families Learning Together!

I have loved teaching Art Journalling in schools this term.

The workshops have been part of the programme of Family Learning and have been designed to teach children and their adults and carers to explore, together, art techniques, relaxation strategies and the use of their imaginations to create wonderful journals full of their own ideas and designs.

I really wanted to teach this in a way that will make their journalling a lifelong habit. Hopefully a passion. A place to go for quiet, where they can find peace and solace in a crazy world. This new generation are going to need strategies to help them cope with the pressures that their life will present. 
We adults desperately need it too!

The  way that children and adults learn together is so valuable because whilst they are sharing the closeness of an enjoyable learning experience they often each approach it in a different way, with their own styles and talents. 

They learn a great deal from one another and an appreciation of the others skills. I have seen family members look at one another with fresh eyes! Issues have been discussed, support given and friendships made. All whilst they are making art!

It gives families a new hobby to enjoy together. I feel this is essential in a time when children are often isolated within their own minds, playing or learning on gadgets and technology that only involve one person. Parents too, are so stretched and stressed that finding time to relax as a family is sometimes very difficult. And yet, we are not meant to be solitary beings. We sometimes have to re-learn to be together. And how to share.

The lifelong learning outcomes have been so exciting. 
Some of the children have changed their Christmas lists to Santa! They have asked for art materials instead of gadgets and games. Their parents are amazed! 

The adults have made their own lists! They have found the relaxation and thrill of journalling is addictive and just don't want to stop! 

And they have all enjoyed doing the shared activity so much that they think they will approach the New Year with a new way of spending family time together. I'm so thrilled! I really am!

As an added bonus, this year I have had families in my workshops who last had the opportunity to work with me up to 4 years ago. They are still doing the activities they learned all that time ago and brought their work to show me. This has shown me that this kind of learning lasts. Long may it last.

I LOVE my job!!

The Moon!

I've been promising for ages to do a step by step tutorial on making and using circle stencils in an Art Journal.

If you'd like to follow along with this post you will see how simple it is to get some lovely effects with just a few circles cut from plastic and some black and white acrylic paint.

I started by cutting my stencil from Mylar and a Sizzix Circle Die but you could cut one from plastic by drawing around a cup, a small bowl or anything else in a variety of sizes. 

The thing that I like about this Sizzix die is that it cuts  3 perfect circles and that it is endlessly repeatable. You also get the perfect matching Masks. All very quick if everyone at a workshop wants to cut a set for themselves! Let me know in the comments if you'f like a post about using masks.

In my journal, I started by painting my page black. As usual, I had a  bit of white on the brush too so that I got a variety of shades of grey along with the black. This will give you a much more interesting background.

Now place the largest circle stencil in the top left side of the page and swirl paint around within the shape. It is good to keep the paint pretty dry on the brush to avoid the paint seeping through the edges. As you can see with mine, I didn't follow my advice! But all will be fine in the end. I never worry about these things. It is better to have some great texture than perfect edges. You can paint in the edges later if you go wrong.

I wanted to add some shading to the moon to give it more interest;

I stippled some black paint onto the moon with a dry brush and them used a scrunched up piece of tissue to take some paint off and add texture at the same time.

Next I added the water. For this I used the paint that was left on the brush to drag horizontal lines across the page.

And then dragged black across to add shadows, bring out the highlights and create the effect of the the moonlight on the water.

I then added a border with a stencil I made and a Stampendous butterfly stamp onto the moon. On the journal page at the top of this post you can see  that I have highlighted the details on the butterfly with a white gel pen and then used the same pen to add foliage to the foreground of the scene. I have also added stars to the sky with a tiny brush. You can also do this with the gel pen.

I will add the finishing details when this page is dry and add it to this page tomorrow. Happy Moonlighting!

Update! I've added the white pen details to he butterfly, water and added foliage to the foreground. Finished!

Dreams and Doodles

Tomorrow the wonderful new Stampington  publication, The Coloring Studio will be launched. 




I am so happy to have one of my illustrations featured in this great new colouring book that is much more than just a colouring book. Everyone who knows Stampington will know how gorgeous their magazines are; full of the most inspiring art and innovative techniques.

Today I thought I'd show you some of my other illustrations. These are copyrighted so please don't copy them but I do hope they will inspire you to draw some in your own style. Next time I will do a step by step on how you can start to doodle some illustrations of your own.

So here are some of mine...
This first one is an illustration for a wedding invitation. It is hand drawn in black ink.

 This one is a diorama of the Owl and the Pussycat in a little mint tin. Again drawn in ink and layered.

And these next ones are textile designs. They are drawn in black ink onto painted backgrounds.

Tomorrow I will show you how to start an illustration of your own with step by step photos. I will also be teaching this very soon so let me know if you'd like to be added to my mailing list for illustration, journalling, gelli printing, handmade felt or altered books and tins. You know you'd like to have an ARTY new year! Perfect for your New Year resolution for 2016.

Artist Sketchbooks on a Saturday

On Saturday 4th July, in Boxmoor we will be exploring Sketchbooks and Journals.

Whenever I show my sketchbooks at shows or talks so many people say that they would love to get into the habit of regularly working in a book. Certainly, they are so great for trying out new ideas, colour schemes or for making a new technique your own. But they can be scary! 

The idea of starting in a new book on a new blank page is so scary to most people that some never ever make a start in the lovely new book they've bought.

So my job on Saturday is to make you fall in love with your journal and make you want to work it in without FEAR!

We will be working with Circles as a theme. Making our own stencils and working with them to create masks and layers. We are going to look at adding colour and detail and think about how to add text in unusual ways.

The day will start at 1.30pm and finish at 6pm. The cost is £50.

Let me know if you'd like to join us. There are a few spaces left.

More Gelli Printing coming very soon! and Altered Books too.

The new workshops are booking up fast!

On April 11th I'm repeating the beginners Gelli Printing workshop to fit in all the people who wanted a place last time. I so hope you can make it for this one if you missed out last time.

There will be Gelli part 2 in the summer where we will be developing our prints with drawing and experimenting with using our prints to make repeatable images on fabric  and embellishing them with stitch so it would be great to do the beginners workshop to get some really good images to use for part 2.

The whole process is so addictive and if you have been thinking about getting a gelli plate this is a great way to try it out and buy one if you like it.

On May 23rd the very popular Altered Book workshop will be happening again.

There are lots of images from some of my Altered Books further back in this blog and also on my website: 

www.paulawatkins.co.uk

They are such a joy to make: to take an old unloved book and make it into a very personal piece of art feels like rescuing an old friend and giving her a breath of new life.

We will be learning lots of techniques for starting and working in our books. The day is suitable for beginners, experienced mixed media artists and art journallers and everyone who wants a day of playing with paint, print, glues and exciting art media.

Both workshops cost £65 for the day and include everything except lunch.

Contact me through my website to book.

Booking NOW! Gelli Plate Monoprinting

Do you know about the BIGGEST most addictive new printing craze? You can print your own papers!

Gelli Arts have taken the old ways of mono printing with a tray of home made gelatine and made a fantastic Gelli plate that enables us to make fabulous printed papers and fabrics without the need for a printing press.

The results are always surprising and the colour combinations and patterns that you can produce are simply amazing!

On the 15th November we will be having a Gelli Printing workshop in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead. We will be experimenting with lots of lovely colour and many different ways to make pattern on paper and card. We will even make some prints on silk.

You will go home with lots of prints to play with but during the day I will also show you how to go further with your prints by learning how to embellish them with drawing, how to use them in Art Journals and for collage, and we will discuss how to use them to make repeat patterns for greetings cards and fabric prints.We will also use some of the techniques from our new Cut Shape Stitch book!

Sometimes the prints are vivid; a riot of colour! You can also choose to make them subtle and gentle.

These ones below were very muted. They were actually the last prints from a session when the plate was almost clean. I have used the suggestion of the subtle patterns  and colours to guide my  doodles into unexpected fantasy scenes.

Even the smallest of torn snippets are lovely enough  to save for using as woven strips or landscape collages.

So do you fancy having ago? It is easy and such a lot of FUN. The day costs £65 and includes everything except lunch and an apron! Contact me through my website: www.paulawatkins.co.uk

Places are limited because I have only 10 Gelli Plates. Hope to see you there x