Inspiring talk......

A few weeks ago I went along to hear Lesley Morgan, from Committed to Cloth, talk about her work. She often paints and prints onto fabric then turns them into beautiful wall hangings and quilts. 

I first met her at the Knit and Stitch show where she was demonstrating her work with thermofax screens. These are amazing as you can send off to get your artwork turned into screens to print with which I have used for several of my mixed media pieces. 

She really was inspiring and here are a few things I learnt which I want to share with you....

Get inspired by music.....

This was a piece she created called Little Bird inspired by the Annie Lennox song. Although I'm not a big fan the lyrics are amazing: 

I look up to the little bird
That glides across the sky
He sings the clearest melody
It makes me want to cry
It makes me want to sit right down
and cry cry cry
I walk along the city streets
So dark with rage and fear
And I...
I wish that I could be that bird
And fly away from here
I wish I had the wings to fly away from here....

It was also painted using a credit card which is another inspiration; make marks with whatever you have, experiment and explore because the effects can be beautiful.

Carry a camera with you and photograph anything you find inspiring.....

You can clearly see in Lesley's photographs the influence they have on her pieces. These can also be a vital reference later on when you're working in your sketch book.