A Miscellany.......

My sad anniversary has passed again....quietly. It's been two years since Bob died peacefully in his sleep. I miss him every day, but I've moved on by re-inventing a life for myself without him in it...For you, Bob;

                                          "We were born before the wind
                                            Also younger than the sun.
                                            Ere the bonnie boat was won,
                                           And we sailed into the mystic"

This is us in 1972 with our first child.

Same man - hanging around on a cliff just a few weeks before he died.

I've got a couple of classes coming up at Bear Essence in Tooradin in early June: firstly a two day class to create a rabbit child like this (using a pre-made paperclay head blank) If you are based in Victoria and would be interested in this or any of the other classes offered, get in touch with Kim or Josey using the link above.

The other class is a one-day one to make one of these simple painted "Sukeshi" dolls

The class at the Ballarat Fibre Forum went really well, even though I only had a smallish group. It was a great week, being cloistered away with like-minded people!

And one final thing......here is the sketchbook planning I've been doing for the start of the "Imagined Poet" series (see previous post).

Upcoming Events

October is going to be a busy month for me - I have a number of classes scheduled, beginning with  "The Pensive Child" class at Bear Essence at Tooradin near Melbourne with my lovely hosts, Kim and Josey. This class will be held on 2nd and 3rd October and you can find all the details on their website.

Following that a few days later, on the 6th and 7th of October and still at Bear Essence, I will be teaching a painted cloth animal class. We will be concentrating on making a frog like this, but the skills are transferable to making other animals. This class is so much fun!

After a few days off, during which I hope to visit my son and his partner in Metcalfe, north of Melbourne, I'll be heading down to Geelong to teach (13th and 14th October) for the lovely people at the Trolly Dollies Cloth Doll Club. They will be making a doll like this:

I'll just have time to catch my breath after I get back home and I'll be getting reading to teach a class in my home studio on 27th and 28th of October for the West Tamar Arts Group ArtEntwine event.

This class is called "Personifying Your Muse" and I'm hoping to see some very personal and creative interpretations of this idea. The students will be sculpting heads, making cloth bodies and then letting it rip with mixed media and paint!

Then I might take a few days off!

PS - There might be places available in some of these classes - if you're interested, get in touch via the links.

Preparations

I'm in the middle of making arrangements to head overseas next month to teach at a number of locations starting in Albuquerque, NM. There is always plenty to do in preparation for a teaching tour like this. I have been making a number of moulds from my original head sculpts and making sure all my notes are in order. And booking tickets. And contacting friends. etc, etc.

Here is a mould I am making for a couple of "Historically Inspired " doll classes I am running. This will be cast in silicone in two parts to make press moulds for complete heads (for those students who are a bit timid about sculpting their own!) This head is loosely based on an Izannah Walker style of doll from about 1850.