Parade Madness!

Griffin head-this was my 'pet' project and I was ably assisted by several of the participants in the project

This week has been my annual week of crazy also known as the Impecunious summer project. This year our project was the Carlisle Parade which kicked off Carlisle's pageant week.

During the week I ran several banner making workshops

I asked people to draw something or somewhere they loved in Carlisle

These designs were then made into flags and banners

Laying out the banner of Carlisle loves

The finished banner

Banner made from work done at this years Culture Bazaar

We have been working in partnership with Chester Watch (who run fabulous parades in Chester) and the city council. We've been making giant puppets, banners and all sorts of other bits and pieces. It's been a week of late nights, willow weaving, sewing, painting and all round creativity with loads of people coming down to the Old Fire Station and getting involved. It's been great!

Our work space at the Old Firestation

Willow frame for the griffin head

Skinned with tissue paper and latex

Foam eyes and fabric feathers

More feathers

Faye transformed into a griffin!

Feathered wings

Furry lion legs

This article from the Cumberland News was written just before the project started and this one has some pictures from halfway through the week. We were on the radio and we even made it onto the news!

Puppets in our viking long boat

Turning Mark into Carlisle character Jimmy Dyer the fiddler

Life Drawing 8.8.13

Water-soluble graphite, 15 minutes

I really enjoyed this session, it was great to welcome a new artist and Martin, as always, provided us with some excellent poses.

For the longer poses I worked with water-soluble graphite, building it up dry first then working back in with water and then with the graphite dipped in water to get really dark areas. I was very pleased with the drawing above, especially when I pinned it up and allowed the water to run down which I think gives the drawing more atmosphere and feeling.

For the long pose (30 minutes) I ended up spreading across multiple sheets of paper (again) and so my proportions are all out but I still quite like the drawing, I think I may break it up and have it as 2 or 3 separate drawings as there are some interesting area but they don't fit together!

Hands, pen

Feet, pen

Dangling feet, pen

As ever I also produced multiple pen drawings, focusing on hands and feet as I find them a challenge to draw but I like the unusual shapes they create. The drawing above I really enjoyed because it was such a funny pose. The top half was very serious (thoughtful head, resting chin on hand) but then the legs were dangling over the side of the chair, which is not a serious look!

'Blind' drawing

Blind drawing

I also did quite a bit of 'blind' drawing, I find it interesting to do this at the start and the end of the session as it is amazing how much ones observational powers increase in such a short time and how quickly the hand can translate what the eyes are telling it into a drawing that does resemble the pose.

Time Lapse: Museums at Night - Thursday 16th May 2013

Here is a really cool time-lapse video from the Museums at Night event back in May. I ran fancy dress life drawing and had so much fun! This video was made by D & H Photographers and captures some of the energy and fun from the evening.

This weeks Workshops

Banner making with Barnardo's

I've got two sets of textile workshops running at the moment, one with Cumbria Cerebral Palsy and one with Barnardo's Sure Start Children's Centre. There is some beautiful work being made by both groups and as the last couple of weeks of workshops approaches I'm feeling excited about how all the work will come together.

Felt Dog

Felt Parrot

Felt Bag with Felt Beads

Felt Bag with Sequins

The Cumbria Cerebral Palsy group is a pilot run by Prism Arts to see how arts sessions benefit the people who access the service. In my workshops we've been doing some felt making and this week we moved on to embellishing the felt. The small sample pieces from the first week have been embroidered and embellished to look like animals and the 3D felt bags have also been embellished. There is a very positive atmosphere in this group and they pick things up really quickly.

Designs are drawn in fabric pen then embellished with stitch, sequins, buttons and beads

Hand stitching

The Barnardo's group I'm working with consists of mothers and their children and we've been working on embroidered animals and plants. Each person is working on an individual piece and next week we will start joining them all together to create a banner to be carried in Carlisle's pageant in a couple of weeks. You can find out more about the pageant by getting in touch with Impecunious.

Tonal stitching in a flower design

Adding beads