Welcome to the first instalment of my Arty News. My intentions here are to offer news about events, exhibitions and workshops I am offering. And to share a snapshot of my arty practice for the month. I hope to post a couple of times a month and invite you to be part of the adventure by subscribing and joining with me.
This is also a space where you can contact me and we can chat. You can ask questions, share with me your arty news and we can connect. And it is all for free.
If you are new here let me tell you a little more about me. My name is Sarah and I am a textile artist and art teacher working in Suffolk, UK, near the coast. Over recent years my practice has evolved to include more mixed media exploration. I love to work with collage, print and paint in lots of forms. I am often found experimenting in my sketchbook. The coast and countryside here in Suffolk provide constant inspiration for me and with my young family I love to adventure to the edges, along the coastline, finding hidden places and observing the magic of nature. This leads me to my sketchbook with new ideas.
I also work under my brand Cloth Botanicals to craft beautiful naturally dyed and ecoprinted silk scarves and other handcrafted items. I have exhibited these locally in Felixstowe’s 142 Gallery and The Crafthouse Gallery in Woodbridge. Subscribe here and I will keep you posted on future events where I will be offering my work for viewing and for sale.
Through my Substack page I aim to always offer you something in return for joining with me and supporting me as an artist. This might come in the form of a blog post, short demonstration of a technique or a prompt for sketchbook inspiration and a look inside my sketchbooks. This week I would like to offer you a look inside my latest sketchbook:
My family and I are off to Cornwall for a little holiday. I love to visit Cornwall. We will spend days by the sea enjoying the beaches and exploring the coastal footpaths, and enjoying the local food there. I also love to visit the endless galleries and artists studios and it is not by accident that we are visiting this weekend. This week coming it is Cornwall’s Open Studios week. I have already looked ahead at the artists I’d like to visit and have booked onto a Wildflowers in Watercolour and Collage workshop run by artist and illustrator Melanie Chadwick, which I am very much looking forward to.
In anticipation for lots of drawing opportunities I like to prepare for the holiday in plenty of time. I like to gather my art supplies and my sketchbook and will often prepare my background pages in advance. Below is a short video of this process. I have created expressive marks using acrylic inks, water spray and sea salts working in my Seawhites A5 concertina sketchbook. I have used a piece of lightweight corrugated cardboard and scruffy old paintbrushes for the best kinds of scratchy, rough mark making. These are backgrounds that I will respond to, drawing on top of while recording the landscape and environment around me. Much of the marks will vanish under layers of colour, drawing and new mark making. I enjoy creating these pages with loose, unpredictable marks and textures. There’s no battle with a blank page here.
Workshops and events coming soon:
My next Creative Sketchbook Pages workshop will be at Felixstowe Library on the 21st June at 1-3pm. The cost for the workshop is £25.
During this practical workshop we will be exploring media and mark making to create seascape inspired pages.
I hope you have enjoyed my very first Arty News and that it is something you would like to follow along with. If you subscribe and join me on Substack you will be able to leave a comment, ask a question and even share your own photos of your practice with me. If you enjoy this content please consider sharing it with others you think might like it too.
Thank you for reading, love Sarah x