Breakdown printed fabric from my online Breakdown Your Palette workshop

In my last post I mentioned a couple of UK organisations that I’m a member of, The Quilters Guild and the Contemporary Quilt group. I am also a member of SAQA - the Studio Art Quilt Association. This US based but international organisation does an excellent job of promoting art quilts and provides lots of opportunities for textile artists to exhibit their work in galleries and museums around the world. I joined because I want to exhibit my work in the US and was lucky enough to have work selected for one of their exhibitions, ’Layered Voices’ which toured in 2017 -2019. I’ve also had pieces in two of their European touring exhibitions.

SAQA offer a range of membership levels including one called Juried Artist for which you have to submit a portfolio of work as well as an artists statement and resume. It was on my list to apply for several years but ‘stuff’ kept getting in the way. When I had free time last year during lockdown I moved applying to the top of my to-do list. And then found that I no longer had confidence in my work and couldn’t handle the thought of rejection. I think this was all part of the disconnect I felt from my art and my art practice.

But, as you’ll know from previous posts I set aside time towards the end of last year to reconnect with my art. And with my confidence growing I decided to apply.

And this week I heard that I had been accepted! Happy dance! Happy tears! And a massive honour. I now have an artists profile on their website which you can find here. And I have applied to have a piece included in one of their Art Quilt Quarterly magazines.

I also gave my second virtual talk on Understanding Colour to the Contemporary Quilt group this week … just as nerve-wracking as the first time but I’m determined to embrace more virtual opportunities! I have agreed to give my first live workshop in mid-April. I’m still at the ‘I must be mad / panic’ stage in my preparations but will share details soon!

And finally, take up of my first online workshop Breakdown Your Palette has been brilliant. This is an on-demand workshop that you can join at any time. If you have been thinking about joining, a little reminder - for every person that enrols during March I am donating £10 to the charity YoungMinds. They do brilliant work helping children and young people with mental health issues.

Thanks, Leah x

It may still be doom and gloom in the rest of the world but my studio has been buzzing with good vibes all week!

I have had an amazing response to my first online workshop Breakdown Your Palette. A big thank you to my new students! I had a target in my head that I thought would be brilliant to reach by the end of March and I reached it yesterday …. lots of happy tears in the studio. Together we have raised over £200 for the YoungMinds charity. And it has also allowed me to start refunding deposits to those students who can’t make rescheduled studio workshop dates or who don’t want to travel until they’ve had both jabs - which is an enormous weight off my shoulders.

The only technical hitch so far has been a couple of people who couldn’t see the Sample Video - I use Vimeo to host the videos and they don’t support older versions of some web browsers. The solution is to update your browser.

This week I also received my copy of The Quilter magazine featuring an article I wrote about colour. And I gave my first ever Zoom talk to members of the Contemporary Quilt group. It was about colour. Obviously. The CQ group are a specialist group within The Quilters Guild (UK) and The Quilter is the quarterly magazine published by the Guild. I have been a member for approaching twenty years and am a big fan of all the work they do. I also appreciate the opportunities they have given me, and other tutors, to promote our work.

This week also saw me and hubby getting our first Corona virus jabs. The process was flawless with our wonderful NHS staff being support by volunteers. Another weight off my shoulders.

And finally this was the week when I should have been joining 12 very good friends for our annual five day retreat in the Lake District. The retreat has always been a form of respite … 5 days away from work and away from family. I love my family but I love them more for getting the occasional break! We couldn’t be together in person this year so instead organised a 5 day virtual retreat. Although I wasn’t able to avoid ‘work’ it was lovely sitting at my computer listening to the quiet chatter of old friends via Zoom in the background. We had our usual book review (mine were both about colour), our usual quiz (animal based, I came last) and our usual five day challenge. Janet devised five prompts that took us from a piece of white fabric to a finished vessel. We shared our progress each day, it was joyful. I started by dyeing my fabric turquoise and ended up with a vessel that is the perfect size for holding a bottle of wine! Perfect!

With the sound of trumpets in my ears I am very, very pleased to announce the arrival of my first online workshop! You can find full details and sign up HERE, As well as a summary of the content there are a couple of videos that you can watch for free.

(I’m hoping I pressed all the right buttons and everything is linked up, please let me know if not).

The online workshop contains everything that is in my five day Breakdown Your Palette workshop but in a lot more detail. It is split into eight units with the content being delivered by a mixture of videos that can be watched over and over, and detailed notes that can be downloaded. I’m keenly aware that it isn’t the same as teaching face to face but I hope the increased number of demonstrations inspire students to experiment. And I will be providing support via a private Facebook group, email and monthly Zoom meetings. The workshop costs £240 for 12 months access to the videos and to support from me.

This is all very new to me and I will be amazed if there aren’t a few technical glitches to sort out! Although this is an on demand workshop, I will only be releasing one unit per week. If everything is working well I’ll release units more quickly. To compensate those brave students who join up during this early period I will start the timer on their twelve month membership when I release the final unit.

I’ve also decided to donate £10 for every student who signs up before the end of March to charity. One of the few brilliant things that happened last year was the money we raised together for The Trussell Trust. And whilst food poverty is still a massive problem I have decided to support a different charity this year. It is called YoungMinds and you can find out all about them here. The impact of the pandemic on children and young people goes beyond just the loss of education. Children need to be with other children and the partial closure of schools is having an enormous effect on their mental well being.

So, have a look at the videos. Try not to cringe. Or laugh too loudly. I am a nervous wreck already. Leah x

Coming soon ……. Wonky Phone Productions in association with Real Artists Hands and Slightly Dodgy Lockdown Hair present Breakdown Your Palette the online workshop …..

Yes, after a restorative few months focusing on my art, I have started my next ‘big project’. I love teaching in my studio. I love demonstrating at shows. And I love giving talks. But I hate having my photo taken and the thought of standing in front a video camera has me running for the gin. So I have been putting off creating online workshops until now. But here I am.

It is a very steep ‘learning curve’. There is lots of help out there and I’m grateful to all the textile tutors who have shared their experiences. For the first time ever I am also grateful for uTube. And it seems that if you have an iphone / ipad / mac then iMovies makes it all fairly seamless.

Hmm …. if only. I dusted off my old laptap. Which started making the most horrendous grinding noise as soon as I googled ‘video editing’. I have found it a comfy corner to live out its days and moved my PC to the centre of my studio. Good job the studio is currently closed as I have cables running everywhere!!! Turns out that the webcam on my PC is rubbish. My rather old android phone has a great camera. And works with Zoom for live streaming. But I can’t find any combination of bits of software / settings that allows me to use it to record video via my multicam capture software. So I am now the proud owner of two decent quality webcams. And a serious boom arm to allow me to shoot from above my print bench.

I starting making short test clips and used them to learn how to use my editing software. Let’s just say that it is a good thing that I don’t have a swear box in my studio. My family are staying well clear …..

But I am making progress. The workshop will be an online version of the five day class I teach in my studio. It is going to be split over eight units each containing downloadable PDFs and videos (about 30 of them in total!). I’m just not brave enough to do a ‘live’ workshop but will be providing support via a private Facebook group and email. And will run monthly Q&A sessions via Zoom. I’m hoping to have it ready for early March and will share more details soon.

In the meantime, if you hear somebody crying whilst banging their head against their PC it will be me.

Leah x

Sample by Helen Parrott

Whilst I don’t know how long the current UK lockdown will last, I am proactively working with guest tutors and students to reschedule workshops etc. I’m also doing my best to support those who find themselves unable to attend workshops later in the year. So this is a brief post to let you know that places have become available on workshops that were previously sold out.

There is one place available on Northern Landscapes and Hand Stitch with Helen Parrott. This five day course is split across two sessions. The first session is 7 - 9 May 2021 and the second session is 12 - 13 June 2021. And there are two places available on the now reschedule workshop Poetry of Decay with Christine Chester. The new dates are 21st to 25th June 2021. Both these tutors are incredibly popular and I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that life will a bit more normal by May.

If you have a look at my workshop page you’ll also find details of the workshops that I teach in my studio and their availability. If you are a bit nervous about booking rest assured that I give refunds if the workshop can’t go ahead or if you can’t attend due to COVID restrictions.

Sample by Christine Chester

I am very pleased to announce that Christine Chester will be teaching her five day Poetry of Stitch workshop here at Urban Studio North next September. Christine is a talented artist, popular teacher and runs her own studio in Eastbourne.

Stitching, whether by hand or machine, is usually the final layer on a piece of work and often the process we enjoy the most. But we can get into a routine of using the stitches with which we are most familiar. In this workshop Christine will encourage you to look at ways of stitching that will extend your language of marks. She will look at both hand and machine stitching thinking about the character and the weight of the stitching that we are using and how to apply that to printed work so that the stitch either enhances the printed layer; or creates focus within the print. There will be an emphasis on trying lots of small sample pieces before starting to work on a larger, more considered piece of work.

The five day workshop costs £450 and requires students to bring their own sewing machine. If you want to learn more about Poetry of Stitch please click here.

This is the final announcement about workshops in 2021 - the studio calendar is pretty full and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that we can run without restrictions, hopefully from March onwards. Normally I would now be thinking about workshops in 2022 but, given all the uncertainty in our lives, I’m not planning on making any announcements until Easter.

Before I go …..tis the season of shameless marketing ….. did you know that you can buy Urban Studio North gift cards in my online shop? Available in £20, £50 and £100 values, these digital gift cards can be used on all of the products in my shop including workshops, books, dyes etc and never expire! So if your loved ones don’t know what to get you for Christmas why not suggest a gift card?

Thank you for reading, Leah x

Whilst it is likely that there will be restrictions on my ability to open the studio early in the New Year I am very hopeful that life will get back to something near normal in the spring. The news about vaccines over recent days has felt like a glimmer of sunshine in what is a dark winter for many people around the world.

Looking ahead I am very pleased to tell you that I have developed a five day workshop Colour Your Palette based on my new book. In the workshop we will consider the differences between paints and dyes and what that means as we translate colour theory into colour practice when using dyes to add colour to cloth. We will look at the six types of colour references in the book and students will make a start on creating their own sets. We will explore various tools, including colour families, for creating different types of colour schemes. We will use those tools to work through multiple sources of inspiration, extracting individual colours and, if appropriate, blending those colours to create coherent collections, or palettes, of colour. And we will learn how to translate our colour choices into working practices, controlling colour within the confines of the surface design technique we prefer to use.

The workshop is aimed at those who already know how to dye or print fabric but want better control over colour in their work. The cost for the five days is £425 but this also includes ten squeezy bottles and an acrylic mixing plate so that students can continue their studies at home. The workshop will run four times next year on 12-16 April, 5-9 July, 13-17 September and 18-22 October. You can find out more here.

I have also added two new dates for my Breakdown Your Palette five day workshop. The new dates are 9th to 13th August 2021 and 23rd to 27th August 2021. Many of my 2020 Breakdown students moved their bookings to the 2021 workshops when I had to cancel the workshops this year so I will be teaching this workshop a lot next year. Which is wonderful as breakdown printing is my favourite thing! The workshops cost £400 and you can find out more here.

And finally, whilst I was loading these new workshops onto my website I noticed that the images of some of my Wonky Print Inspiration Packs in my shop were all the same. No idea how that happened but I have, hopefully, reset the images correctly.

Bye for now, Leah x

I just realised that I have been neglecting this blog! I haven’t even given you a porch update. I’m happy to report that it is because I have been super busy working on my next book and teaching.

The porch is beginning to look like a porch. For a while it was more of a pergola than a porch but it now has a roof and part of two walls. It means we can be Covid-19 safe and work with the studio doors wide open and it doesn’t rain in. It isn’t quite at the stage where it helps keep the studio warm on cold days but the lovely badger, with a little help from bodger, is getting there. Because we are doing this cheaply we haven’t poured a level foundation so there has been a far bit of swearing trying to get everything square! It will be worth it!

Teaching has been going well with some amazing printing this last week. My students are happy with the layout of the studio and the new rules. It is so important to me that we get this right as I don’t want to increase risk for my students or my family. Nine weeks with additional local restrictions hasn’t reduced the numbers and I suspect we will see more restrictions in the coming weeks and months. But we soldier on!

I only have two free spaces left on workshops this autumn. One is on my Creative Surface Design program starting on 21st and 22nd November and the other is on my five day Print, Stitch, Go! workshop on 9th to 13th November. If you are thinking about booking but maybe have some concerns re Covid and local conditions please get in touch here and I’ll do my best to help.

And finally, the book. The content is done. Words, samples, photos. The last few sections will be going out for their final proof reading this week. So now I just have the layout to do. Just. I’m considering adding padding to my table top as I know there will be some serious head banging as I try to remember how to use InDesign. And swearing. I can guarantee there will be swearing! But, just like the porch, it will be worth it!

Walking into a clean and orderly studio set up and waiting for my students to arrive. Quite moments in the evening tidying up and getting ready for the next day. My garden full of fabric and drying screens. The calm after the students leave, when my studio becomes my space again.

And along the way a riot of colour. Seven students across two five day Breakdown Your Palette workshops, each creating their own unique pieces of fabric. Creative, happy days spent in good company. I have missed this so much! Teaching is a bit different in this new normal but just as satisfying.

The new normal means being flexible - plans often change, both mine and my students. I’m having to reschedule the Books for Textile Artists workshops with Ruth Brown for next April and have had to delay the start of my upcoming Creative Surface Design class until November. I currently only have three places left on workshops in 2020. There is one place on my Introduction to Surface Design 1 day a month for 10 months course which starts on Saturday 26th September. There is one place on my Print Your Palette 5 day workshop (Monday 28th September to Friday 2nd October). And there is one place on my Creative Surface Design course which is spread across five weekends with the first weekend being the 21st and 22nd November. I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that next year is better and that we can all plan with a little more certainty.

But until then I have a lot to grateful for. A big thank you to Sharon, Sue, Heather, Judy T, Alison, Judy S and Mandy for keeping me company and inspiring me over the last two weeks!