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| Stacked Folded Sketchbooks |
Earlier in the year I had a lovely evening running my 'Embellishing Printed Fabric' workshop for Brampton Arts and Crafts Club. It was such a relaxed and pleasant evening with a really lovely group of people. They obviously enjoyed it too as they invited me back so in September I ran my 'Simple Sketchbooks' workshop for the group.
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
I had a bigger group to work with this time as none of the gentlemen of the group came to the previous workshops but they clearly felt happier with sketchbooks rather than stitch so had come along this time. Once again it was a lovely evening, very relaxed and lots of chatting! I demonstrated my techniques for making envelope sketchbooks and my favourite folded sketchbooks. I then let the group loose on my stash of papers. One of my favourite parts of this workshop is choosing the papers and I love seeing people having a good ratch through and selecting the bits they want to use.
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
It was really interesting seeing how differently people approached the workshop and the amazing range of sketchbooks created, each a reflection of the individual. I'm always intrigued by how even in a large group and working with the same materials everyone will produce something different. I'm sometimes asked why I'm so willing to share my techniques and 'secrets' and this is why; no one will do it quite how I do as each person has their own unique quirks and characteristics and this will come through in any creative work.
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
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| Folding, cutting and sticking |
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| Playing with folding sketchbooks |
In a similar vein I don't worry about sharing my techniques and tips as I believe that to create 'good' art you need to believe in what you're doing, it has to be authentic. The word authentic is bandied around a lot at the moment but I really believe that a piece of work that is truly authentic has a bit of the makers head, heart and hand in it and will always stand out over a copy or something. One of my tutors once asked me "if you don't believe in your work how can you expect other people to?" This really struck a chord with me and since then I've tried to always make work I believe in, that I am proud to claim as my own. So, the moral of this post is go and be creative and do it your own way proudly!
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| Finished sketchbooks |
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| Finished sketchbooks |
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| Finished sketchbooks |
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| Finished sketchbooks |
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| Finished sketchbooks |
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| Finished sketchbooks |
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