Looking forward to seeing you in 2021 – have you booked in yet?
We all have our stories to tell about the last year. If you have had more downs than ups, I hope that 2021 brings you some equilibrium and better times. If like me, you have had more ups than downs then we have much to be grateful for.
I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on all that life has thrown at us, appreciate my close and extended family more than ever and miss my friends and followers. I always knew that my local community was great, but I now value its offering even more and appreciate that Malcolm and I don’t actually need to go very far to get whatever we really need. As the weather improves and we gradually take steps to re-connect I look forward to hearing your stories and hope that summer 2021 will allow us the opportunities for the enrichment and meetups we all deserve.
What have you been doing?
I can’t wait to hear from you and catch up with your news. Have you been creative, or have you had a block? If blocked don’t worry, it will come back and I am happy to help you with that!
Taking course bookings…
For those who booked 2020 course places, you have your new dates for 2021. I am optimistic the courses will run and will update you a month in advance of all courses this year. For new bookings taken from now onwards prices are raised reflecting more cautious maximum participant numbers on each course and I will just have to see how that all pans out.
Returning to the Prairies…
The Sussex Prairie Garden remains a favourite course venue. In addition to my usual 2-day courses ‘Natural Dye & Ecoprint’ and ‘Inspired to Stitch’. I will also be teaming up with Emma Taylor again to run outdoor ‘Botanical Draw and Explore’ and ‘Botanical Design and Stitch’ days.
Last year I had so much fun working with Emma on our ‘Pop Up Draw days’. We think we achieved our aim to provide a safe outdoor practical experience, in the middle of a pandemic, within the eased restriction time. It was wonderful to provide this new option, see some old and some new faces and have some creative fun at a time when it was so very needed. Thank you to those of you who attended, you inspired us to develop this series into 1-day courses for this coming summer. We have booked the Garden Room for our media and discussion base and in case of rain, we will have a gazebo outside, enabling us to keep calm and carry on…
Newham Lodge Studio re-boots…
A year after retiring from school teaching has been extremely busy, even through the restricted times of pandemic lockdowns. After much reflection I am clearer about what I can offer at my home studio in future. The Spring and Summer months are the time for courses at home and the Autumn / Winter months are for focussing on personal studio practise, completing domestic projects, reflection time and hibernation. Whilst we still face some uncertainty home studio course numbers will remain capped at a maximum of 4 to provide guaranteed safe space, plenty of bench room, relaxed and gentle productivity.
Usual courses in Shibori Tie Dye, Natural Dye and Ecoprint and other Art/Textile based media will continue. I have now added a set of ‘Studio Days’, intended for those I can support in developing their personal creative practice. The new ‘Studio Days’ are likely to attract those who have attended one or more of my usual courses, had a positive experience and wish to continue to meet up. Course members will bring their ongoing project to the studio.
The idea is that course members can:
Share and discuss their work with me and others
Have a one-to-one coaching conversation with me, where clear creative goals are set for completion in between studio days
Continue with personal work that is brought to the studio
Have access to tuition in any relevant art/textile medium available in the studio and appropriate to personal creative development/set goals
Sign up to dates, in advance, on a first-come, first-served basis
This will be an interesting new offering and for those involved, I expect to run some ‘keep going’ zoom sessions for small groups and individuals during the Autumn/Winter months.
Festival of Quilts 2021 – NEC - Academy Tutor…
I am delighted to have been asked to run a 2-day creative textile workshop ’Layered Surfaces’ in the Committed to Cloth Creative Textile Studio at the end of July. I will make a separate blog post about this once FOQ have published their full programme of courses and workshops. When it comes out this course will be bookable via the FOQ website.
So, all the best and make contact if you wish to sign up for anything…
I wish everyone all the luck with re-aligning personal and working lives as well as creative habits. In some ways, it’s quite exciting not knowing exactly what life will be like. Attending a workshop or a studio day could be just what you need to get the creative juices flowing again. As the weather gets warmer, the days get longer and nature does its usual wonderful thing let’s hope we can celebrate, share our stories, make glorious things together and most importantly do all we can to ‘Save the Planet’!
