What a discovery in March! Movie poster originals!

I got the chance just recently to visit March on the Cambridgeshire Fens. I've never been before apart from seeing a small bit of the Fens on the way to Norfolk. So this day was a real treat. I was there as a tag along passenger as we had lots of my fiance's work stops to do but even so, I managed to see all sorts of things while he was busy!

And this was one of them. I love Wetherspoons pubs. Having trained as a carpet designer, I'm a real fan of their individual carpet designs for each pub. I collect pics of them and post to Instagram. So we saw this one and just popped in. What a surprise!!! Movie posters all still intact in the entrance hall. They were fantastic! Wonderful image and text together. Different fonts and type everywhere you looked. You rarely get the chance to get up close and personal with things like this in context. They were incredibly crisp and clear and so evocative of another time.

If you are in March, go see!! here are the details/address of where the pub is:
https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/cambridgeshire/the-hippodrome-march

Willow Pattern paper plate collages at the Broadway Gallery workshop for families!

I ran another Family Art Studio workshop at the Broadway Gallery in Letchworth last Sunday. We had a really busy time with ages through from little 2 yr old toddlers up to full grown ups. The workshop was making paper collages by using sheets of Willow Pattern examples and sheets of my original Letchworth images translated into blue and white. Working from my images as well seemed a perfect fit as the workshop was to be linked to the last day of "Hidden Agenda" a touring Crafts Council exhibition that looked at craft and social comment. In particular I thought a piece by the artist Paul Scott was really interesting and to link transfer ware to my work and then translate again to paper collage seemed like a wonderful connection and expansion of an idea.

Above are the couple of mock-ups I made before the workshop. You can see the sheets I prepped of my black and white images into blue and white. Its was so exciting to see! and its really made me want to go off on a tangent and explore just blue and white paper. 

That's one of the real pleasures of running workshops... they are a fertile bed not just for the people attending to be creative and make something thats theirs and unique, it fertilises me as an artist too with the conversations and chatter had through the time.

Small pieces cut and ready to be arranged and stuck.....

Two approaches... random shape collages and more arranged and regular arrangements!

I drew this little cat for a little girl. Fab to see she stuck in place on her plate.... a hidden pussums!

A family of plate collages. This really shows learning and enjoyment of the arts across all the ages.....

Simple techniques of papier mache layers with pva glue.

Drawing combined with collage.....

Some where very gluey! but they would soon dry and leave a lovely shiny surface!

Willow pattern plate collages and linking artists work.......

I ran another Family Art Studio workshop at the Broadway Gallery in Letchworth last Sunday. We had a really busy time with ages through from little 2 yr old toddlers up to full grown ups. The workshop was making paper collages by using sheets of Willow Pattern examples and sheets of my original Letchworth images translated into blue and white. Working from my images as well seemed a perfect fit as the workshop was to be linked to the last day of "Hidden Agenda" a touring Crafts Council exhibition that looked at craft and social comment. In particular I thought a piece by the artist Paul Scott was really interesting and to link transfer ware to my work and then translate again to paper collage seemed like a wonderful connection and expansion of an idea.

Above are the couple of mock-ups I made before the workshop. You can see the sheets I prepped of my black and white images into blue and white. Its was so exciting to see! and its really made me want to go off on a tangent and explore just blue and white paper. 

That's one of the real pleasures of running workshops... they are a fertile bed not just for the people attending to be creative and make something thats theirs and unique, it fertilises me as an artist too with the conversations and chatter had through the time.

Small pieces cut and ready to be arranged and stuck.....

Two approaches... random shape collages and more arranged and regular arrangements!

I drew this little cat for a little girl. Fab to see she stuck in place on her plate.... a hidden pussums!

A family of plate collages. This really shows learning and enjoyment of the arts across all the ages.....

Simple techniques of papier mache layers with pva glue.

Drawing combined with collage.....

Some where very gluey! but they would soon dry and leave a lovely shiny surface!

Horse teeth models, globes and Darwin's microscope!

Yesterday I finally went to a place I have been meaning to for ages! ...the Whipple Museum in Cambridge. I read about it from a leaflet by the University of Cambridge that lists the museums it owns and tried to picture where it was. Turns out, I have walked past it for years and could have very easily have called in before. 

Yesterday though was my sons birthday. He was 20 and getting to an age where museums are interesting again!! We were both so glad we went! Its not big...just a few rooms but has such an interesting collection of sciencey things on display. There were lots of wax models that were used for students to study from. Weird models of horses teeth and very delicate glass models of funghi. Never seen anything like that! Also on display was Darwin's microscope. I've just watched 'Inherit the Wind' and though its a film really tackling McCarthyism and creativity, the films subject is the work of Darwin and the teaching of Creationism, so seeing Darwin's microscope was apt.

19606's Sputnik toy

Globes of all ages!

Chemistry set packaging...

Indo-Persian Astrolabe

Funghi and plant models in blown glass!

Horses teeth models for students to work from....

Horse teeth models, globes and Darwin's microscope!

Yesterday I finally went to a place I have been meaning to for ages! ...the Whipple Museum in Cambridge. I read about it from a leaflet by the University of Cambridge that lists the museums it owns and tried to picture where it was. Turns out, I have walked past it for years and could have very easily have called in before. 

Yesterday though was my sons birthday. He was 20 and getting to an age where museums are interesting again!! We were both so glad we went! Its not big...just a few rooms but has such an interesting collection of sciencey things on display. There were lots of wax models that were used for students to study from. Weird models of horses teeth and very delicate glass models of funghi. Never seen anything like that! Also on display was Darwin's microscope. I've just watched 'Inherit the Wind' and though its a film really tacling McCarthyism and creativity, the films subject is the work of Darwin and the teaching of Creationism, so seeing Darwin's microscope was apt.