Flaming June and memories of the Lot Valley

A little over a week ago I was over in France in blazing sunshine delivering workshops for Studio Preniac. It all seem so far away now in both time and warmth.The Lot  Valley lying a little to the south of the Dordogne is an inviting landscape of rolling hills and valleys, picturesque villages and towns.

 Safely tucked away in my attic bedroom after a wonderful supper by our generous hosts Billy and Liz. I awoke early to the gradual change of the morning from dawn blue blush which I tried to capture in my first captured sketch between workshops. This set me for a week of exploration of Shadows, Layer and Line in Cloth beginning with a sketching session in the nearby  village of Montuq for the Sunday market. Carrying our sketchbooks to snatch studies as we walked and bought materials for use in the workshop.

Getting ready to draw.

Jenny in the Studio

Laurence at work

Within walking distance of the studio there was plenty of inspirational resource available for drawing

Judith Shadow Drawing

We also had a chance to see the hidden gardens of Cahors and visit the nearby town of Saint Antonin Noble Val before flying back last week

Sue and Laurence in the Moroccan Garden Cahors

Hidden courtyard in Noble Val 

It was hard to say goodbye to this lovely view from the workshop, great companionship and food and come back to the cold grey of England..I am sure it will get better.Thank to the workshop participants for their wonderful cards which contained little snippets of those memories.

France had not quite left me, in the same week, my advance copy of the 'Stitch Stories' arrived brightening up a grey morning and a little bit of this lovely place is recorded in the book in the work of Ros Woodhead (above)

Thankyou Bill from Studio Preniac for the additional images and to all the workshop participants for permission to use photographs

Finally, breaking news, I am to be one of eight artists featured in the next issue of the wonderful John Hopper's Inspirational Magazine..yippee.

Edgelands and Autumn

We are well into the Autumn and enjoying the latent warm weather of an Indian Summer. The days although bright in Kent are getting shorter. November is around the corner and this year more than any other we think of the past. 'The Gardens and War' exhibition continues at the Garden Museum until January.

                     

It is also time time to tidy up in the garden and mine has been neglected with so much building work going on in the house but the Bees are enjoying the late sunshine on our hedge and makes me realise how important the edges of our gardens and  the hedges around our fields are to wildlife.

I have had my head down getting back to teaching at Adult Education and handed the copy in for my next book in this month but also managed to squeeze in a lovely visit to Sew Not Strawberry Jam in the middle of the Kent Countryside to run two one day workshops with a look at the surrounding hedges and landscape for inspiration.

Examples of student work in progress. 
Quick sketches in the garden and of plants

Layering Images in Stitch Sketch workshop

Momigami paper for Postcard Places

and a few views of the lovely garden with Geese. Just love the bright pegs.

 

Finally, I am delighted to be exhibiting with Anne Kelly in Connected Cloth at Crowborough Arts Centre, with Anne Kelly, 31 Oct - 13 Nov