Saturday, October 28, 2017

21st October 2017 PATTERNS FROM NATURE - DRAWING AND DESIGN WITH ANNE PITTS


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.