Old Bank Studios workshop day

On Friday night I packed up my materials and my travel bag and set off for a mini adventure to Harwich in Essex in order to be ready to teach on Saturday at the Old Bank Studios.

I was running a one-day mixed media course called All things Bright and Beautiful based on my mixed media bird paintings.

We spent the day letting loose with some paint and papers building layers of paint, print and collage onto which we could paint a bird.

With everyone’s creativity flowing, imaginations let loose and we saw an underwater landscape, a couple of coastal scenes, a castle hidden in the trees, a blossom tree as well as floral still lifes and bird scenes come to life.

They were a lovely group of ladies from near and far and we had fun working alongside each other.

In fact, if I lived closer I wouldn’t hesitate to join the Quilting group or a textile course as the studios are a lovely environment to work in, the people are so friendly and I haven’t even mentioned the home cooked lunch yet!

Look at this beautiful room bathed in sunlight.

I’ve not been on a course that can accommodate a delicious sit down lunch like this with beautiful home cooked food like these amazingly clever apple roses made by Bev. It was a lovely way to take a break and to chat to people more.

After lunch a hush fell on the room for about an hour while everyone got serious about finishing off their pieces and then sadly the day was over.

I’ve been really lucky so far this year to have run some really fun workshops and met some super lovely people; Old Bank Studios is run by Bev and Nigel who are genuinely two of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

And to finish, here we all are with our art.