What shall I do with this.

It was raining this morning so I was pleased to have booked myself on another workshop at the 20 21 Arts Centre. Mind you, during the morning the rain cleared up and the sun came out, which made the room super hot. 

The subject this time was re using, re inventing, and re purposing vintage textiles, using screen printing and stitching. There was a large variety of textiles to choose from, I picked a tablecloth already embroidered with flowers, and cut off a quarter of it to work on. 

The morning was taken up with deciding on a pattern to print onto it, making a template and choosing colours. 

Everyone's work was different, so many different ideas.

 I find it very difficult to come up with a design when under pressure. The workshop starts at 10.30am and finishes at 3.30pm, with half an hour for lunch, so not much time to gather ideas and put them into practice. You know me, sometimes I take a month or two before my pictures are finished. Anyway, this is a yellow tree with ivy growing around the trunk. I had to paint over it with a small brush because the screen printing had left patches not covered. Then I diluted some red and blue paint and dropped blobs of it onto the fabric. Not sure why, I just wanted to fill in the white areas.

I've got several pieces now waiting to be finished, don't know when I'll get round to them. This needs lots more stitching,

The workshop was tutored by Jane McKeating. Here is some information about her. She is part of the 62 Group of artists. And more information on the Manchester School of Art web site.

The wind is howling outside, and the rain is coming down. There will be no walking tonight, looks like another storm has arrived. Don't forget it's check in day tomorrow for the walkers.
Toodle pip.  ilona