Archive for March, 2009

mmm…is that the smell of fresh varnish?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

singlegatefinished

I’ve just painted a coat of satin finish yacht varnish on all four of the panels for the mural made with the G&T art club at Singlegate Primary School in Colliers Wood - so now they are ready to be fixed to the front of the school. The last session of the workshops was yesterday, and we made sketchbooks from scrap paper and badges. Next term I’m back at the school to do a new bird-themed project there.

Now they are whispering…

Friday, March 27th, 2009

whisperingfox

Are they talking about you?

Here’s a hand-coloured pencil version - just wondering which works best?

whispering2

Grouting at the Snuff Mill

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

grouting

Today I finished off the two mosaic panels I have been making for the School Arts Partnership with Y8 and 9 students from Cricket Green School and Y4 children from Wimbledon Chase Primary. Each child made their own panel, based on drawings they had made at Morden Hall Park, so you can see elements of the water wheel, the white bridge, the mill itself etc. Three Cricket Green students had fun today doing the grouting and seeing the patterns emerge like a patchwork quilt in tiles.

finishedmosaicdetail1

Beware of foxes

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

bewareoffoxes

The foxes are watching. And waiting…

Decoupage discs

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

decoupagediscs

Varnished decoupage plates for the art club at Singlegate Primary School this afternoon. I’ve got a big pile of magazines so I hope the children have fun making some of these. Thanks Jill for helping make the demonstration models!

Wandle boat race

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

The sun sparkled on the water for the boat race today with families from Liberty School - the final session of the London Voices project with the National Trust at Morden Hall Park. We had several heats to determine the overall winner. Sculptor Simon Kent also brought down the oak slabs that he will carve using the families’ designs to create the ’story boat’ to be installed in the park in July, and we all had a go at carving.

Ready for racing

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

I’ve varnished all the boats and made and printed calico sails from the families’ designs for the big boat race on the Wandle on Tuesday - the final session of the London Voices workshops with Liberty School at Morden Hall Park. I’m really looking forward to the race - and the weather looks very promising.

Settling in

Friday, March 13th, 2009

This week I have been settling in to the new studio space at The Old Sweet Shop.

Oh! What’s this?

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Rabbit has found something rather interesting.

River poems and a chainsaw

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Today’s London Voices workshop at Morden Hall Park was great fun despite the blustery rainy weather. We began with a treasure hunt for words hidden in the bark of trees, under ivy fronds and in fence crevices, then made them into river poems, then the families made drawings in the sketchbooks we made last week using Japanese book-binding. Meanwhile Simon showed how he uses a chainsaw for carving and made an eel…

…which we followed with a big game of ‘Eels Out!’