Saturday 1 March 2014

Rydal Inspiration - NWCQ Retreat 2014

 Just back from 5 days retreat with NWCQ group in the  Lake District staying at Rydal Hall. Once again a time for  creative reflection  in good company in a beautiful setting. The staff  there are so helpful and  it's wonderful not to have to think  about cooking ( it's 4.30 and my tummy is wondering where the traybakes are....). I  struggled a bit on the train with all the stuff I'd taken' just in case'. In the end,apart from pinning and tacking a large indigo piece onto wadding, I didn't do much stitching, concentrating on sketching and painting from my surroundings  and making a little book of stitched monoprints and drawings based on these. Preparing an informal talk about my experiences from the  workshop  with Dorothy Caldwell,  it was a luxury to have time to consider my personal repertoire of marks and put them into practice. I got the  group doing blind stitching ( much to the amusement of other guests heading to the bar!) and several decided to make their own collections of 100 objects.


 
Retail therapy was not forgotten - a trip to Keswick to the pencil museum shop yielded  discounted ex display tins of XL graphite and charcoal with another tin of Grasmere gingerbread acquired on the way back. 


 Rydal Falls had considerable more water going over it compared to last year  but the colours of the bracken on the hills was just as beautiful.

Based on   my sketches , I pulled out bits from my scrap bag to make up a journal quilt and another from acrylic monoprints too precious to cut up for my book! Now when I stitch these, they will remind me of my break, it's good to return to making JQ's that have a story




 Some pages from my book based on the patterns on bark and fast flowing water.

7 comments:

Vicki Miller said...

What a great retreat and such an inspirational post

Penny said...

This gave me some inspiration to go back and do another book along the lines of the one I did a year or so ago in Dorothy Caldwells class here in Australia, love your art journals.

Debbie said...

What a lovely thing to do, love the book, and you just happened to have all those beautiful fabrics. I expect if I went back through your blog I would find the answer to this, do you dye these fabrics yourself?

Sandra Wyman said...

Envy envy envy! Sounds like a really productive week making best use of the environment!
Brings back memories of last year (I still haven't used the beautiful sketchbooks I bought in Grasmere!

Julie said...

I'm with Sandra, definite envy going on here. I shall look forward to hearing more from Jean who I think was there wth you. What a wonderful treat to be able to concentrate solely on your creativity.

Margaret Cooter said...

oo, nice little book! ... and good finds at the pencil museum shop (did you visit the museum itself?)

Heather said...

Isn't Dorothy's blind stitching fun? It sounds like you had a fantastic time, such a beautiful place to be in. (I have done a wee bit of hiking in the Lake District with my sister.)Your little books are marvelous.