We had a very productive
Saturday workshop with Anne Pitts, a retired art teacher, who shared
her knowledge and skills and encouraged us to use sketchbooks and to
work freely. We experimented with drawing very quickly using wax
crayons and then adding water colour, also using water colour
pencils and oil pastels.
We then had a go at
simple, formal pattern making, by cutting out shapes and using the
cut-out shape to form the next part of the pattern. Some ladies even
started creating their own work from the
ideas they had brought!
It was a very enjoyable workshop and hopefully everyone has taken
away ideas to use in their own designs.
The workshop followed a
very interesting talk by Pat Kelly on the Friday evening,
entitled " The history of colour and natural dyes".
Pat focussed on the primary colours and we learnt a lot about how
these colours and dyes have been used over the centuries and by
different groups of people to emphasise their status and to control
others. Pat always researches thoroughly and it was a very
informative talk and it is a shame not more members attended.
