Making Things

As I write this much of my beloved Carlisle is under water. It's a strange experience and an odd mix of emotions; gratitude and relief that we are not flooded, sympathy for all those who are, sadness for all the damage and disruption. I'm finding it hard to concentrate, I keep checking the news and looking at the pictures and generally feeling a bit useless. 

I can't go into work today (usually I would be running Prism Arts Studio group) because of the floods so I've found myself with some unexpected time on my hands. Usually this would be a good thing but it's not helping with the moping so I thought it best to give myself a specific task, such as writing a blog post! If you are able to and would like to donate money to help those affected by the floods you can donate to Cumbria Community Foundation through Just Giving.

My stall at Wreay

At one time I did a lot of craft fairs but recently there have been so many other things to do that this side of things has fallen by the wayside. However, in the last weekend of November I had a stall at Wreay village hall for their Christmas Craft Fair. Despite fairly terrible weather (although nothing like as bad as this weekend) we had a good turnout and it was a friendly and well organised event, well supported by the community.

Melted plastic earrings

Owls!

My stall

Doing this craft fair helped clarify a few things for me. Firstly, I really enjoy making things. one of the reasons I haven't done many fairs is that I haven't had time to make new things to sell. When I heard about this particular fair it sounded like it would be a good thing to do and I had quite a while to get stuff ready. In the run up to the fair I really enjoyed making some new things, playing with fabrics and coming up with new ideas.

Lino prints

Blackbird lino print on a notebook

Lino print made into a card

Which leads nicely onto thing two, I don't want to do lots of craft fairs! Although I enjoyed the weekend and it was a good opportunity to hear what people thought of my stuff I don't want to spend my time selling, there are too many other things I want to do more.

Owls ready to be sewn up

Owl key-rings

Owl hot-water bottle cover

However, I did really enjoy making things for the fair so I think what I would like to do in the New Year is re-open my Folksy shop and try and sell some bits and pieces on-line. There were lots of very talented artists and crafts people at the fair and this really inspired me to get making. So, it's off to the studio I go!

Brooches

Decorations

Buttons

Life Drawing 17.11.15

Charcoal pencil

It always surprises me how quickly these sessions come round! I wasn't expecting a great turn out as the weather was a bit wild but the hardy artists of Cumbria turned out in force. I find that there tends to be a better atmosphere if there are a few more of us although I'm not sure exactly why.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, 'blind' drawing

Following the lines of the pose

November is often a slightly odd month for me, it always looks like it's going to be quite quiet and then suddenly it gets very busy. This year has followed this pattern and I was not at my most alert and awake for this session, couple this with coming down with a cold and it wasn't the best combination for a productive evening. However, I bravely soldiered on and as always enjoyed the time to focus on just drawing.

Pen, continuous line

Adding a bit more detail than ususal

Hand studies

I'm not really pleased with any of the drawings from this session, my proportions are all out and I struggled to capture the poses but it was good to have the time to just sit and observe and draw. Part of the reason my drawings aren't so good is that I've once again fallen out of my daily drawing habit so that's something to try and pick up again.

Permanent marker

Permanent marker

Red pen

We had some interesting poses and good angles but I just wasn't in the right frame of mind this session but I don't mind because for me the main point of Life Drawing is just to draw. To not worry about the outcome but to observe and try to capture these observations. The process is the important part rather than the outcome, although it is always a bonus if you can produce an outcome you're pleased with too! So, back to the drawing I must go and get my eye 'in' for next month's session!

Life Drawing 20.10.15

Continuous line drawing

I was thinking that it seems a long time since I last wrote a blog post, then I realised that's because it is a long time! I just don't seem to have been in a writing mood. It's been a funny time recently with lots of projects ending but in stretched out sort of ways and lots of proposal writing. I've got lots of bits of work coming in for next year but not many new things at the moment so it's an odd but exciting time.

Pen, continuous line

Marker Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Having spent the weekend being ill (very unpleasant and very boring) I was not necessarily in the best frame of mind for this life drawing session, to say nothing of totally shattered. However, as always it ended up being good once I got there. It was lovely to welcome another couple of new faces to the group and to welcome back a model who we'd last seen about 18 months ago. I book a different model for each session because it's good to get a range of body shapes and modelling styles to keep the sessions interesting and to keep testing our skills.

Marker Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

I did quite a bit of drawing with a permanent marker this session, I wanted to create quite solid drawings and I like that you have to work quite quickly with the marker or it just goes straight through the page. I also had a go at drawing in white on black, I really liked this effect but I need bigger bits of black paper!

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Two Pens at once, continuous line

Our model gave us some good details to work with, such as sticking up feet, which helped me as I was really struggling with proportion this session so I just did some drawings of parts of the body rather that trying to capture the full pose. I wasn't really happy with my drawings from this session but I don't mind because it's all part of the process. Sometimes drawings work and sometimes they don't but there's always something to be learnt from doing them.

Pen, continuous line

Marker Pen, continuous line

Marker Pen, continuous line

At the end one of the new artists said it was really tiring because you have to concentrate so much. I could relate to this but I also find it is a very relaxing thing to do, particularly if you can stop worrying about getting it 'right' and just enjoy the drawing. As one of the other artists pointed out; your drawing will be right from somewhere in the room!

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Poster

Raining Dragons and Trolls

One of our Dragons

One of my 'day jobs' is working on Prism Arts Studio Theatre project and we are about to start touring our latest production 'Raining Dragons and Trolls' which is linked to the national Family Arts Festival. We will be performing in a variety of venues, including Keswick's Theatre by the Lake, and we are all really excited about the tour. Since we began Studio Theatre back in 2012 we have come a long way and I never cease to be impressed by the ideas, work and commitment that the group shows.

Initial designs

Developing characters with drawing

Set design ideas

Our starting point for this production was the BBC 10 Pieces, ten pieces of classical music selected to encourage and inspire creative responses. The project was mainly aimed at schools but we thought it would be an interesting starting point and this proved to be the case. From the music a story grew, we use a lot of drawing to help develop our ideas and it is often not until very near the end of the production process that we have anything solid written up.

Mecamecal (mechanical camel)

Castle

A lot of things change over the course of making a production, characters come and go (sadly, the mecamecal or mechanical camel did not make the grade this show) story lines change and evolve but eventually a piece of theatre emerges. The constant changing can be difficult for some people but overall it is a positive thing, keeping the group inspired and fired up and allowing new and better ideas to come through.

Felt making: in our productions we use a wide range of techniques and materials. 

Felt making

This production has a strong environmental message, something we all feel very strongly about and which is an important issue. Although there are a lot of fantasy elements in our productions (dragons, trolls, a friendly minotaur) the story is very much about humans and how we interact with each other and the world around us. The main characters in the show have to convince people that unless they change their ways and live in a more sustainable way the world will be in serious trouble.

Making prayer flags for one of the scenes

Prayer flags

I work on the backstage elements of the show, the drawings, props, scenery and costumes. Theatre Skills runs two days a week, one day being focused on production (the day I lead) and the other day focused on performance (led by Vicki Maxfield.) Obviously the performance day leads what we make on the production day but there is a constant flow of ideas back and forth, the two days are very much connected.

We make and use a lot of puppets. Here are the Trolls!

And two mini dragons in a boat

And one of the main dragons (detail)

And we use a lot of shadow puppetry as well

One of my favourite pieces that we have made for this performance is the Sea Guardians cloak. In the story the sea guardian has become trapped in discarded plastic waste and fishing nets and in struggling to escape he is creating huge waves and terrifying the fisherman. To represent the waste he is trapped in we used my favourite technique of crocheting and melting plastic bags to create a large net like cloak that the actor wears. We added further strings of crocheted plastic to give a really tangled up look and add movement. I think this piece of costume works really well and I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

The Sea Guardians Rubbish Cloak

Crocheted cellophane

Melted plastic

I'm not going to write any more about the production but I hope that if you're near where we're performing you will come and see us and be transported to another world!