India! Wonderful India!

2019 is going to be the year of India for me!

I was invited by Colouricious to host and teach on one of their fabulous Textile Holidays to Jaipur. 

I was beyond excited and spent the year before the holiday developing a course 'The Jaipur Journal' to teach whilst on the trip.

These textile holidays celebrate the art of Block Printing using traditional wooden blocks , hand carved in sustainable hardwood.  It is a joy to be able to observe and experience the continuation of this heritage craftsmanship.

In addition to visiting  the breathtaking cultural sights of the area and the workshops of a  range of traditional local crafts people we have hands on workshops with some amazing printers.

Being shown the techniques of Block Printing by the artisans themselves is such an honour! We watch them print many metres of fabric by hand. Their speed and accuracy is astonishing to behold. Some fabric prints are made up of 4 or more different hand carved blocks, each with a different colour, to make one pattern.

For me, what a joy to be able to also teach in the beautiful gardens of  our hotels with birds singing and chipmunks running in the trees and monkey's on the rooftops!
We spent 4 happy mornings together painting onto fabric and handmade paper. And we shopped for and experimented with adding beautiful embroidered braids and embellishments to add to our journals.

This is a little You Tube video link of some of the pages in my journal.

Colouricious Jaipur Journal

And here they are working in the beautiful garden. These photos are from 2 trips to Jaipur.

How lucky that in all I visited India 4 times in the last year with Colouricious. Each trip was very different, each time getting to know such wonderful travelling companions. India is the most extraordinary place that I don't think I will ever tire of visiting.

Love Art?

Then you are going to love all the wonderful new art techniques that are just waiting for you to play with. We have been developing some new ideas, products and courses for the Spring and Summer.
Are you are a textile lover or you dream of wallowing in felt and fibre? Does yarn drive you crazy or playing with paper crafts makes your fingers tingle? We have got some great courses coming up after Easter!

More Fabulous Felt: Beginners and  Intermediate. There is also going to be a Family Fun Felt day in the Easter holidays. This has been requested for years and I have never found time to do it but we have one on the 4th April in Watford. Contact me and sign up quickly if you are interested.

 Paula's Paper Crafts: We will be playing with all kinds of exciting paper crafts including making our own backgrounds using all kinds of paints and techniques. We will be using the wonderful Crafters Workshop Stencils too. We can then  use what we have made to make our own cards, boxes, collages and pictures.

CLP will also be running Patchwork and Crochet courses at our Heavenly Arts and Crafts Cafe in Watford.

I am putting together some wonderful Mixed Media Mixage resin jewellery courses too. We will be using the  newest, lovely, products which have just been released in the USA. I am just waiting for supplies to arrive and then I will show you some photos.

There may be some tasters during the summer so let me know if you are interested in being on our waiting list for these.

So I am going to be busy all through the Easter holidays  making samples and gathering  materials for a season of exciting new art making.

My next page...

...is supposed to celebrate all the time I am going to have this summer whilst teaching has stopped for a few weeks. I was going to spend lovely hours doing some samples for next years workshops, tidying up, and lazing around watching the Olympics. Ha! The lazing around is mostly what I've been doing.

So, I have just realised that time is ticking by and I haven't really achieved anything much. I have planned some fabby days off though (days off from having days off?) and I will be going to the Festival of Quilts, The Autumn Fair Trade Show, and some days mooching around London and Brighton.

But of course all of these jolly days out are going to be very hard work (yep sure!) looking at new products and planning new mixed media and textile courses. So watch this space and see what's coming up!

Anyway...back to the time page...this is made with  tin foil and metallic card which has been embossed in the Sizzix Big Shot, coloured with inks and acrylic paints and then crackled with Viva Croco crackle.