Snowy Retreat at Rydal Hall

Last week I was in the Lake District at Rydal Hall on  my annual retreat  with North West CQ group  ( the 5th time  there).   As I left Faversham on the Monday there were already icy flurries of snow  which caught up with us on Tuesday. On  Wednesday there was more snow and on Thursday a bitter wind which  blew the snow around ( we didn't go out that day ).  I travelled back with Judy to Crewe on Friday for the preview of Cwilt Cymru's 'Traces' exhibition  and  stayed another night to travel back on Sunday as I wouldn't have got home given the train cancellations and disruptions.  We have had snow before at Rydal but not on this scale!

These photos were mainly  taken on Tuesday - waking up to see the view  from my bedroom (top) , while it was sunny I went out  ( wrapped very warmly!)  straight after breakfast to explore my usual haunts

No   drawings from the 'Grot' this time , too cold to take my gloves off! 

Back in the cosy ' Old Kitchen' studio I made thumbnail sketches  from the photos and had a frustrating day on Wednesday trying to convert  these into fabric sketches .  My excuse, despite knowing it would be snowy, I brought coloured rather than black and white scraps with me! 

On Tuesday afternoon I was persuaded by Pauline and Millie to  go on  a sketching expedition to  Rydal Water ( we had  such a lovely hilarious time last year) . We set off in the sun but as we walked up the track it started to snow heavily ( and we were questioning our sanity!) . But it eased off as we arrived and the sun came out

Not the best paintings I've ever done ( the paint took forever to dry ) but they captured the experience

I found a bench to perch on, legs dangling, Millie found a rock and Pauline  sat on a tussock of turf.
We were definately ready for our coffee and traybakes on  our return

On Wednesday after my frustrating morning, I was ready for a trip to Heaton Cooper in Grasmere( photos above)  in the afternoon .They now have  as super cafe as well as tempting art supplies.  

 In the 'after tea' slot  in a session led by Leah we put together books with reverse accordian piano hinges from sheets of paper we'd had a messy mark making session on the day before.

 On Thursday it was bitter and very slippy underfoot so I only ventured out for soup at lunchtime at the cafe and to  take back some of the  bits of wood etc that I'd collected to draw. Even then  my boots sank as  couldn't tell the difference between the path and the leaf litter. Others were more intrepid as the went up to  see the frozen waterfall.

 I  spent  most of the day collaging' impossible walks' , combining photos from a  copy of Pouchers 'Lakeland Fells' I'd bought from Fleur Bookshop in Faversham ( more in another post) and  excavating layers in a section of old quilt ( a very English 'Boro' )  

There were 13 of us this year and as ever the time went very quickly. I seem to do less and less while I'm there but just enjoy the surroundings and the company. 

Contemporary Collage Week 2: Desecrating Dinghy Ownership

I had a wonderful time on Monday in Contemporary Collage class  ' desecrating'  the copy of  'Dinghy Ownership' I bought last week.  After  we were shown a variety of examples of artists  and altered books  I took a sharp intake of breath before starting - it feels rather naughty (or should that be nautical!) deliberately cutting out diagrams, ripping out pages, and painting and drawing on the text.

I spent the morning cutting out the diagrams with a scalpel ( I was complimented on my precision - but then I have been  using one for over 30 years dissecting plants )

Then after  lunch, some painting and colouring in.

After cutting out a few hull diagrams , I made a template and cut out some more  then added ink around the edges . I like the overlapping shapes  and what is revealed of underlying pages

On this page the cutouts  show  the  chapter on water and tides (I highlighted these words) 

I started  using the cutout shapes as stencils for  colouring in  the page beneath  with ink . 

The downside to working within  a book is only being able to work on a  spread at a time. Here I painted with acrylic all over except where a couple of  shapes had been cut out but the pages  stuck together while drying. Pulling them apart   left some ripped   white marks which I quite like!

2 sets of diagrams showing flows of currents: on one I extended the areas of black ; on the other I replicated the shape I'd cut out on the opposite page

Painting the stubs of the ripped out pages with ink is when I discovered the effects of ink  spreading to other pages along the spine. This led to  dripping ink deliberately all along the edges of the book when closed. Very satisfying! 

I painted both sides of the ripped out pages using a variety of techniques including acrylic both wet and dry brush; neolcolour crayons; pastels and wax candle resists with inks  

I can't decide whether to put them back into the book ( above) or use them for something else  ( I was thinking again of the structure of  3d weather chart from Contemporary Drawing Sketchbook course)

Some pages I painted lightly with white gesso to partly obscure the text and these I think I will reinsert in the book - I like the contrast of the white with the cream of the paper.  

And the what to do with the excised diagrams and shapes - put them back in the book, use them for another project or stick them in my 'scrap book'? 

I had to leave early  to catch my train so didn't see much of what others had done but there was some amazingly diverse  work going on ( many were using books with coloured illustrations and photos). I half wish I'd been a bit more adventurous   but I'm increasingly finding that  I get more out of using a limited palette and range of techniques but pushing how far I can go within those boundaries  

Bargain Books for Desecration and Collage

 For next weeks 'Contemporary Collage' class at City Lit  we were asked to bring in a pre- existing book for  alteration/ desecration. While I have 'previous' in this activity( see here for my first foray), having had a clear out when we moved I  didn't have anything suitable . Time to visit the 2 excellent secondhand bookshops in Faversham - the 'Fleur-de lis' run by the Faversham Society  and Past Sentence  which is open on market days.  

In the latter, I bought  2 books  from the 'sailing' section. The copy of 'Dinghy Ownership Mainly For The Non-Racing Man ' dates from 1956 ( the author also wrote 'Dinghy Sailing For Boys - Or Girls')  and has nice thick paper ( an important consideration)  as well as lots of interesting illustrations and a few photos.  

I mainly bought 'The Merchant Service today' (1942 from the recreational library of RAF Mildenhall) for it's fold out copy of the admiralty chart of the North Kent coast section of the Thames Estuary although it too has nice thick paper.   

My final purchase from Past Sentence  was in the £1 basket outside the shop- remember the craze for paint effects in the 1980's ? This  book shows you how to do it and  has masses of photographs and illustrations  to  cut out and use - cheaper than a magazine!

In the 'Fleur' bookshop I obtained 2 further books  bought for their illustrations - a 'Souvenir Edition' of 1963 showing excerpts from issues of Encylopedia Britannica going back centuries and  the book below from 1981  which is filled with examples of patents including many bizarre ones that never caught on. 

All these delights together cost me the princely sum of £8.50!