Thank you to everyone who came along on Saturday...

Just a quick update about Saturday's Leytonstone Arts Trail. It was a really great day and the stalls at the E17 Designers market looked great with loads of great handmade offerings. It was nice to see lots of kids running around enjoying themselves too, making it not just for the adults!!

I managed to get some pics in during a quiet moment.....

Kirsten

This week end head on over to Leytonstone for the Leytonstone Festival and Arts Trail. There will be loads of local artists showcasing in venues around the town and we will be showcasing in the Leytonstone Library along with the E17 Designers. So if you have nothing in your diary come along, check out all the other exciting offerings on their website and make a day of it.


I've been working on some new drawings, which were meant to be finished ages ago but i've just managed to mount and wrap them!! So if you come along you'll be the first to get your hands on them.


Also happening this week end is the grand opening of fellow the E17 Art House, a new venture from fellow E17 designers. They're hosting lots of activities for kids as well as other entertainments so make sure to pop along at some point on Saturday and Sunday.

Summer Fun Teaching.....

Just thought I would tell you about the lovely couple of days teaching I have had. The City and Guilds course is all finished now so I have been doing some fun summer schools before I go away to France.

The first was a bag making class I taught which was really fun and we had a lovely time. I even had a few students that I haven’t taught before which is always nice to have some new comers to this field.


I also taught a summer family day with children and their parents. It was a lot of fun with all different classes going on around the college, they even had some belly dancers!
There were 29 children in my session and their parents all printing on fabric and hand quilting to make pencil cases. Here are some of them with their creations……

It was really nice to hear how much they enjoyed themselves so it was a really successful day.




So that’s my teaching for this academic year as I am off to France on Monday for the summer and I can’t wait, as this will be the first summer holiday my husband and I have had on our own in 32 years! We are going for 5 weeks so hopefully we’ll still be talking by the end of it!! Although I will really miss Maisie and our kids I still can’t wait until Monday.

Sharon

Music at Wanstead Park......

After a bit of a blustery start, trying to erect a gazebo in very windy conditions we finally put everything together for a really good day on Saturday. We had a great position where we could hear all the music from the stage and surrounded by the shenanigans of all the kids events, providing some great entertainment! It really was a great day so a very big thank you to the residents of Aldersbrook who put it all together.

The main stage - all the acts were great and I couldn't believe how young some of them were and amazingly talented. I wish I had a musical bone in my body but it was never to be!



Here's our stall basking in the lovely sunshine.....

And a few of the others including Louise who had some great hand made ceramics which I couldn't resist....

Some fellow E17 Designers, Sarie of Fused and Fired who did a great job organising the art and craft section and still had the energy to host her own stall of sophisticated jewellery.....

Gail from Gail's Windy Day with her usual colourful array of gorgeous goodies....


New comer Hamlila Patel who creates some lovely canvas artworks using mixed media and creative embroidery.....


A local artisan who did some hand lathing and created some beautiful bowls.....


And what British event could happen without the classic Punch and Judy show and Morris dancers......

MLB Studios blog great giveaway.....

Check out MLB Studios blog, not only is it filled with amazing dolls and sculptures but this month they're doing a really cool giveaway for the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.




I grew up with the books and had one with the Rackham illustrations such as these:


which I loved at the time but don't think I really appreciated how amazing they were. It's a shame more kids books aren't illustrated in the same way. I've just watched the remake from Tim Burton which I loved as well and for once they haven't ruined a classic!! Johnny Depp is amazing as the mad hatter even with his strange Glaswegian twist!! Definitely worth watching.

Music in Wanstead Park

Just a quickie - if you have no plans for the week end and live out East then pop along to the Music in Wanstead Park event. Taking place between 2-11pm they're putting on lots of activities during the day whilst music goes on all day and into the night.

We'll be part of the art and craft fair lined along the trees and come 6pm we'll be packing up to enjoy some of the bands for ourselves.

Sounds like a really great and mixed line up.
Read more on the Guardian site and on the Aldersbrook site.

Just a big thank you to.....

all my students this year who have definitely worked hard from the Level one to the Level three and I am very proud and pleased to say that everyone passed.

I have really enjoyed this year and the students have made it such a great class to teach.

Here are some of the photos of their fantastic work, sorry about the quality but I forgot my camera and used my phone so if any of my students have better photos please send them to me and I will post them up to share with everyone.




Next year will be different as there is no funding for City and Guilds Level 2 and 3 so I am only teaching Level 1 and a new course for me called N.C.F.E, which looks really good fun and I can’t wait.